Most race cars retire without fanfare; their exploits quickly forgotten for the latest round of quicker machinery. The cars that weren’t winners are often scrapped, forgotten, or scavenged for spare parts in service of their successors. Lucky ones get a more relaxed second life in historic racing series.

But what of would-be motorsport machines that never arrived at the starting line in the first place? They’re lucky to end up with a few lines in a listicle a decade after their stunted chance at glory.

The racing version of the eighth-gen Volkswagen GTI was headed down a similar path after Vee-Dub pulled the plug on all factory motorsport programs in 2020, midway through the GTI touring car’s development. The Volkswagen Motorsport staff was split up and reassigned to work on other projects within the company, and the prototype they’d been working on—the Mk8 GTI TCR—joined the brand’s museum inventory, unfinished.

The one-of-one work-in-progress subsequently traveled to the United States as a marketing and PR asset, trotted out to local circuits to reel off routine demonstration laps instead of traveling the world and angrily banging doors with the Hyundais, Hondas, and other competitors in TCR-class racing series. But fate had another path for this special GTI, and it would soon be yanked out of obscurity and onto one of the biggest stages in motorsport.

As part of the 50^th birthday celebrations of the Golf nameplate in 2024, VW decided to honor its hatchback’s venerable racing history with a special project that evolved into a plan to compete at the Nürburgring 24 Hours (N24). With just months until the race and without a factory racing division, building a new car was out of the question—but what about that old Mk8 GTI TCR prototype that’d been kicking around in America?

And so began the fast-tracked process of turning a half-finished racer into a world-class competitor. The Volkswagen Motorsport engineers who’d formerly been involved with the project the first time around were willing and eager for another go. They knew the car well and were champing at their bits to pick up where they’d left off, but they’d have to work at night after their day jobs, and they needed a little extra help.

And Max Kruse Racing was there to provide it. Co-founded and run by Volkswagen development driver, brand ambassador, and professional racer Benny Leuchter, the racing team complemented VW’s in-house engineers by providing invaluable experience with setting up and running a car in a 24-hour endurance race. Leuchter’s familiarity with Volkswagen Motorsport made the partnership even stronger.

The Mk8 GTI TCR prototype was shipped back to Germany, where it was immediately routed to Max Kruse Racing’s HQ in Duisburg. With a four-month countdown to the N24, time was of the essence.

The powertrain package was largely left as-is, with the most significant changes occurring on the software rather than hardware side. Namely, the ECU was adapted to run the newly developed Shell E20 fuel that would power the GTI in the N24. “The engine is the stock GTI gen-four 888 engine [a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder],” VW spokesperson Martin Hube told us at the Nürburgring. “We are competing in the alternative fuel class, so it’s running E20 that we are using together with Shell, [which is] capable of getting rid of nearly 50% of CO2. We wanted to show that a stock engine is capable of competing with this new [bioethanol] fuel under the hardest conditions. [The car] also gained some power because the fuel is a bit more than 100 octane.” The total output in the rechristened Mk8 GTI TCR—now called the Volkswagen GTI Clubsport 24h—is 348 hp, which is just about 50 more than the recently unveiled road-going version.

The GTI Clubsport 24h’s most noticeable augmentation, though, is its redeveloped aero package. Marketing is one reason for the revamp, seeing as the prototype featured the pre-facelift Mk8 GTI’s styling cues and would need to be updated to match the current model’s look. Win with a one-off car on Sunday, sell more base Golfs on Monday, or something like that . . . However, those with extra keen eyes for GTIs will notice that the Clubsport 24h has a mix of pre- and post-facelift design elements.

That said, the main impetus behind the aero makeover was performance-focused, with the engineers incorporating the latest principles into their old car’s new fenders, wings, splitters, diffusers, and every other wind-shifting bit and bob. The resulting look is the meanest looking widebody ever worn by a factory-backed Volkswagen. Like the prototype, the finished Clubsport 24h completes its silhouette with a chunky rear wing hung from swan-neck supports attached to the hatch, and a single very purposeful-looking center-exit exhaust.

With the bodywork buttoned up, it was time for the new roll cage and safety structures to be homologated with just a few weeks before the green flag, so the Clubsport 24h was flat-bedded to a testing and certification center in Spain to make sure everything was in order. With its up-to-date safety compliance in hand, it then headed back to Germany for last-minute shakedowns at Volkswagen’s test track in Ehra-Lessein. The VW engineers and the Max Kruse Racing team had just enough time to define the parameters and tolerances of their car’s systems—for example, how hot the gearbox oil could get without leading to mechanical failure, and which shift points to use to maintain the appropriate operating temperature—before it was time to put all their efforts to the test at the Clubsport 24h’s first-ever race.

There are less daunting debuts than a day-long trial by fire (and fog) at the Nürburgring, but the Clubsport 24h was immediately impressive upon its arrival in Nürburg. Before the race proper, the car set a new front-wheel drive racing car record at the track (which combines the shorter and more modern Grand Prix circuit with the infamous Nordschleife for a total lap length of just under 16 miles) during qualifying: With Benny Leuchter at the controls, the Clubsport 24h clocked a 8:53.239 lap to start the race at the front of its class.

On race day, the #50 car was to be driven by Leuchter, Johan Kristoffersson, Nico Otto and Heiko Hamme over the course of the 24 hours. Mother Nature had other plans however, and the dense layer of fog that immobilized the emergency services helicopter saw the race halted after 7 hours and 22 minutes. Track conditions were closely monitored as hundreds of thousands of fingers were crossed for a restart that never came. To the disappointment of nearly a third of a million people who’d come to compete at, watch and camp out next to this year’s race, the 2024 edition was the shortest in the N24’s 52-race history.

Despite that, the team behind the Clubsport 24h wasn’t upset with taking home the class win. The car finished in 43^rd overall, conquered its category, beat more than half the overall field of finishers, and fulfilled its purpose. “We wanted to show the people in the woods, the people around the track, that this car is really capable,” Hube said, “and now we have the fastest museum car ever made by Volkswagen.”

It still is a museum piece, after all. With one race and one class win under its belt, the Clubsport 24h’s next job is back under the marketing and PR umbrella, where it will be attending the annual GTI Treffen—the world’s largest hot hatch VW celebration—in Wolfsburg during the last weekend of July. But its time as a contemporary racer may not be over, either…

On that topic, Hube told Hagerty, “We have huge motivation now. We expected to be competitive, but we haven’t expected to come to the ‘Ring and record a record lap time. That shows the capabilities of this car, and the engineers have so many ideas for further development. We’re really inspired and there is an idea to use [the Clubsport 24h] as a development car for the next years. We have two more things to celebrate: in 2026 it will be 50 years of GTI. 2027 will be 25 years of R.”

Could this car’s successful second chance revive the defunct Volkswagen Motorsport department? “Now we have to convince the board that it’s necessary to be here [at the Nürburgring], that it’s necessary to present the Golf in front of the fans here. We have to come back.” Asked how they will convince the board, Hube smiles and says with typical German playfulness masked in straightforward phrasing: “It’s better to argue our case with a good result than with a bad result.”

***

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In celebration of the Golf nameplate’s 50^th anniversary this year, Volkswagen has updated the eighth-generation GTI with more power and usability. At Germany’s iconic Nürburgring today, it also launched a high-performance Clubsport model, which in comparison to the base GTI means more of almost everything. More power, more aero, more stopping power, more drive modes, more aggressive styling, more wheel choices, and even more motorsport cred in the form of a one-off 343-horsepower racing version that will compete in this weekend’s 24 Hours of the Nürburgring with a newly developed bioethanol fuel from Shell.

The only bad news of the day is that the Clubsport won’t be coming to the United States thanks to the pesky and pricey process required to homologate the higher-output version of the GTI’s two-liter inline-four turbo. The resultant MSRP to cover those costs would put the Clubsport very close to Golf R territory, and VW rightly believes that outside of a few GTI-only diehards, most stateside buyers would likely opt for the faster all-wheel drive Golf R than the front-wheel drive GTI Clubsport when faced with a similar sticker price. In other words, Europeans have more choices when shopping for European performance cars, as usual.

It’s a shame, too, because the Clubsport is the fastest and most powerful production-spec GTI ever made, and there’s more than just sentimental value at play in the evolution of FWD hatchbacks. 

Now in its fourth evolution, the souped-up version of the EA888 four-cylinder in the Clubsport produces a maximum output of 300 PS (296 hp) and 400 Nm (295 lb ft) of torque, and is capable of hauling the four-door to 267 km/h (165 mph) when equipped with the optional “Race” package—without that option, the Clubsport is limited to the same 250 km/h (155 mph) top speed as the base GTI. The updated but still eighth-generation GTI boosts output from 245 PS (241 hp) in the launch edition to a formidable 265 PS (261 hp).

Although they share a powertrain, the Clubsport boasts 31 more ponies and 22 more lb ft of twist than the updated GTI thanks to increased turbo boost pressure, a tweaked engine control profile, and “other internal engine measures” that we’ll just have to guess at. The same seven-speed paddle-shiftable gearbox routes the power to the new GTI and GTI Clubsport’s front wheels, but the Clubsport completes the 0-62 mph in 5.6 seconds compared to the GTI’s time of 5.9 seconds.

The eighth-generation GTI comes standard with four drive modes—the self-evident Eco, Comfort, and Sport, as well as a driver-modifiable “Individual” profile—while the Clubsport adds a “Special” mode directly influenced by the undulating elevation changes of the Nürburgring Nordschleife. These drive modes change the profiles of Volkswagen’s Vehicle Dynamics Manager (which controls the electronically locking front differential as well as the lateral characteristics of the shock absorbers) and Dynamic Chassis Control (which takes road surface, steering, acceleration, and braking data into account to control the overall suspension characteristics).

Both GTI and Clubsport Golfs get the latest edition of VW’s progressive rack and pinion steering system, which uses a variable ratio and an electric motor to adapt the response from the wheel to account for whether you’re turning into an Aldi parking spot or navigating the ‘Ring’s Karussell. Part of the steering system’s evolution came from adding former senior Bugatti tester Sven Bohnhorst to the team. We aren’t sure that drivers will notice the “particularly positive characteristics of the steering setup of the Bugatti Pur Sport” in a Golf, but it doesn’t hurt to have Bugatti under the same organizational umbrella, either. What they are more likely to notice is the increased braking ability of the Clubsport’s one-inch larger brake system over the GTI’s setup.

Styling-wise, the Clubsport relies on substantive bodywork and materials tweaks rather than an abundance of “Clubsport” badges. The most noticeable visual differentiator between the GTI and Clubsport is the front air dam, where the Clubsport’s body-colored blades extend more aggressively into the black honeycomb grille. The other major Clubsport signifier comes at the rear end in the form of a larger roof spoiler with an opening between its leading edge and the roof (whereas the GTI gets a smaller, “closed” roof spoiler). Both cars feature exhaust outlets on either side of the rear diffuser, with the Clubsport’s “Race” package adding an Akrapovič sports exhaust system. More subtly, the non-body-color trim on the Clubsport is finished in gloss black rather than the matte black of the GTI.

The GTI and GTI Clubsport both get VW’s new LED headlights and taillights, with an option box that can be ticked to include IQ.LIGHT LED headlights with a longer beam throw. The package also changes the taillights to 3D LEDs, which adds an effect to the blinkers.

The side profile of the Clubsport is distinguished by striated graphics on the bottom of the doors, as well as a Clubsport-only diamond cut finish on the optional 19-inch “Queenstown” wheels designed for the eighth-gen GTI. For those seeking the lightest-possible wheels from the factory, there is also a Clubsport-only option for 19-inch “Warmenau” forged shoes, which weigh just 8kg (17.6lbs) each.

Inside the new GTIs, Volkswagen has made the touchscreen-heavy interfaces more user-friendly (and finally illuminated the HVAC controls!) and debuted its newly designed software and hardware package for the infotainment system, which now is now a fourth-generation modular infotainment system. What does that mean? Most importantly, a new menu structure that includes a driver-customizable toolbar that stays on the screen no matter what. The hardware side of the updates is defined by a 12.9-inch touchscreen on the center of the dash.

Complementing that big tablet of toys is the 10.2-inch digital instrument cluster, which has three selectable configurations: Classic, with round dials; Progressive, with various tiles to display relevant info to the driver; and a performance-focused “GTI” option which puts the tach front and center and includes nifty sub-dials to monitor turbo boost and torque. Both the updated GTI and GTI Clubsport have an option for a head-up display on the windshield, as well as a 480-watt Harmon Kardon-designed sound system, which adds to the existing nightclub-like ambiance that comes courtesy of the 30-color-configurable interior accent lighting package that comes as standard in the GTI and Clubsport.

For drivers who like hands-free virtual assistants/assistance, there is an option for a new “IDA voice assistant” for the first time in a GTI, which uses ChatGPT to answer just about any question you can think to ask, such as “Why would anyone want their car to listen to them?” Some will prefer the GTI without this modern HAL 9000, but we’re not so cynical to think it won’t have the potential to be useful.

As for the materials in the cars’ guts, cloth sports seats are standard in the GTI, while the Clubsport gets VW’s ArtVelours fabric wrapping a premium version of those sports seats; both cars can be spec’d with leather interiors, heated and air-conditioned front seats, and authentic carbon fiber trim packages. 

All told, the Clubsport appears as a fitting celebration of VW’s 50 years of cranking out hot hatches, not to mention a likely send-off for fully-ICE powertrains in the GTI. It’s just too bad we won’t see it in the states.

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The Type 1 Volkswagen first went on sale in the United States in 1949, and two were sold. After that, VW dealers here did increasingly well with the Type 1—eventually known as der Käfer or the Beetle— with each passing year, with the American Beetle sales pinnacle reached in 1968. These cars have become uncommon in car graveyards in recent years, but I found this fairly solid ’70 in Colorado last winter.

For the 1970 model year, Volkswagen of America offered five models, all built in West Germany: the Beetle, the Karmann Ghia, the Fastback, the Squareback, and the Transporter (which was pitched as the Volkswagen Station Wagon at the time).

The 1970 Beetle was available as a convertible, as a two-door sedan, and as a two-door sedan with sunroof. Today’s FPS car is the latter type, which had a list price of $1929 when new (about $16,001 in 2024 dollars). The non-sunroof sedan cost just $1839 that year ($15,254 after inflation).

The Beetle wasn’t the cheapest new car Americans could buy in 1970, but it was a lot of car for the money. The 1970 Austin America (known as the Austin 1100/1300 in its homeland) had an MSRP of $1815, while American Renault dealers offered a new 10 for a mere $1775. The 1970 Toyota Corolla two-door sedan had an astonishing list price of $1686, which helped it become the second-best-selling import (after the Beetle) in the United States that year, while Mazda offered the $1798 1200 two-door. For the adventurous, there was the motorcycle-engine-powered Honda 600, priced to sell at $1398, and Malcolm Bricklin was eager to sell you a new Subaru 360 for only $1297. How about a 1970 Fiat 850 sedan for $1504? The Ford Pinto and Chevrolet Vega debuted as 1971 models, so the most affordable new American-built 1970 car was the $1879 AMC Gremlin.

The first factory-installed Beetle sunroofs opened up most of the roof with a big sliding fabric cover, but a more modern metal sunroof operated by a crank handle replaced that type for 1964.

The final U.S.-market air-cooled Beetles were sold as 1979 models, which meant that Beetles were very easy to find in American junkyards until fairly deep into the 1990s. You’ll still run across discarded Beetles today, though most of them will be in rough shape and they tend to get picked clean in a hurry.

Volkswagen introduced the Super Beetle, which received a futuristic MacPherson strut front suspension and lengthened snout, as a 1971 model in the United States. Most of the Beetles you’ll find in the boneyards today will be of the Super variety, which makes today’s non-Super an especially good find for the junkyard connoisseur.

I’ve owned a few Beetles over the years, including a genuinely terrifying ’58 Sunroof Sedan with hot-rodded Type 3 engine that I purchased at age 17 for $50 at an Oakland junkyard. It acquired the name “Hubert the Hatred Bug” due to being the least Herbie-like Beetle imaginable. Later, I acquired a 1973 Super Beetle and thought it neither handled nor rode better than the regular Beetle; your opinion of the Super may differ.

The Type 1 Beetle was obsolete very early on, being a 1930s design optimized for ease of manufacture, but it was so cheap to build and simple to maintain that customers were willing to buy it for decade after decade. Beetle production blew past that of the seemingly unbeatable Model T Ford in 1972, when the 15,007,034th example rolled off the line, and the final Vocho was assembled in Mexico in 2003. That means a last-year Beetle will be legal to import to the United States in just four years!

The first water-cooled Volkswagen offered in the United States was the 1974 Dasher, which was really an Audi 80. It was the introduction of the Rabbit a year later (plus increasingly strict safety and emissions standards) that finally doomed the Type 1 Beetle here; Beetle sales dropped from 226,098 in 1974 to 78,412 in 1975 and then fell off an even steeper cliff after that. For the 1978 and 1979 model years, the only new Beetles available here were Super convertibles.

The original engine in this car was a 1585cc boxer-four rated at 57 horsepower, although there’s plenty of debate on the subject of air-cooled VW power numbers to this day. These engines are hilariously easy to swap and were once cheap and plentiful, though, so the chances that we are looking at this car’s original plant aren’t very good.

This is a single-port carbureted engine with a generator, so it could be the original 1600… or maybe it’s the ninth engine to power this car. Generally, junkyard Type 1 engines get grabbed right away these days, but this car had just been placed in the yard when I arrived.

The hateful Automatic Stickshift three-speed transmission was available as an option in the 1970 Beetle, but this car has the regular four-on-the-floor manual.

To get into reverse, you push down on the gearshift and then into the second-gear position (this can be a frustrating process in a VW with worn-out shifter linkage components).

By air-cooled Volkswagen standards, this car isn’t especially rusty. I’m surprised that it ended up at a Pick Your Part yard, to be honest… and now here’s the bad news for you VW fanatics itching to go buy parts from it: I shot these photos last December and the car got crushed months ago. I shoot so many vehicles in their final parking spaces that I can’t write about every one of them while they’re still around.

It even had the original factory Sapphire XI AM radio.

***

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One of the most anticipated videos of the year just debuted on our YouTube channel: Jason Cammisa’s deep dive into the career and complicated personality of Ferdinand Piëch.

I cherish the characters and personalities behind the cars we love, and Piëch, who passed in 2019, was supremely colorful. The grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, the engineer who designed the VW Beetle and sired a son who founded the Porsche sports car company, Piëch possessed a seemingly inexhaustible drive that propelled him to produce the Le Mans-winning Porsche 917, the Audi Quattro, the Bugatti Veyron, and a multitude of other cars that changed the automotive landscape for decades. “All he cared about,” Cammisa said, “was making great cars.”

The video is an extraordinary documentary, one that Cammisa and his team have been planning for years. Cammisa’s ingenious angle was to describe Piëch’s career with a host of cars bracketed by two wildly different creations: the fuel-sipping Volkswagen XL-1 and the top-speed-focused Bugatti Veyron. Since the XL-1 was never sold in the States and Veyron is so rare, filming was delayed until we secured both. Special thanks to the VW owner, Phillip Sarofim, and Houston Crosta, who loaned the Bugatti! The wait, I hope you’ll agree, was worth it.

I’m so grateful we’re able to tell these stories and provide them for free. If you’d like to support our efforts, please join the Hagerty Drivers Club, which includes six issues of the Hagerty Drivers Club magazine, discounts on automotive products, and several other useful benefits.

Piëch wasn’t without his flaws. He was known as a demanding and autocratic boss, more dictator than collaborator. His management style led to amazing cars but also was cited as a key reason why no one at VW dared to speak up and admit that the diesel emission targets Piëch demanded simply weren’t possible. That led to the Dieselgate scandal that cost VW billions in fines and was chronicled in the excellent book Faster, Higher, Farther: The Volkswagen Scandal by Jack Ewing.

The folks behind our cars are rarely boring. Recently, we chronicled Helene Rother, a pioneering designer who penned the interior of the Nash Metropolitan and set the stage for wider styling trends; NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick; and a 16-year-old who shoots model cars in incredibly realistic scenes. There are plenty more, which we’ve sorted via this link.

Speaking of personalities, contributing writer Sam Smith recently published a collection of his work called Smithology: Thoughts, Travels, and Semi-Plausible Car Writings, 2003 – 2023. Smith’s fantastic work for Hagerty includes a rousing comparison of the Honda Civic Type R and Toyota GR Corolla, a tire-killing roundup of all the Hellcat-equipped cars, and much more for you to peruse here.

I’ve had the privilege of working with Sam on and off for years, and never fail to leave a conversation with him smarter than I was before. On this week’s Never Stop Driving podcast we talked about his career, what’s he’s learned, and how he developed his special gift for telling stories. Please give it a listen and let me know what you think.

Before I sign off, let me remind you to sign up to our free newsletters to make sure you don’t miss our latest material and also learn what cars are newly for sale on Hagerty Marketplace.

Have a terrific weekend!

Larry

P.S.: Your feedback is very welcome. Comment below!

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The post Never Stop Driving #98: The Piëchesode appeared first on Hagerty Media.

As a budding gearhead, the transition from cars of the college years to those of the career years was instant and profound, as a steady paycheck enabled moving from cheap castoffs to cars costing thousands. In 1979, good employment thus netted me a nearly new Volkswagen Scirocco. After a coworker praised his ’76 model, based on the Rabbit but sporting a rakish Giugiaro body design, I joined the club with this mint, low-mileage 1977 Champagne Edition, which I’d found nearby for $4700.

Compared to the $300 Triumph TR6 it replaced, the 1.5-liter fuel-injected Scirocco seemed like a Mercedes-Benz 300SL. The doors closed tightly, the sound insulation excelled, and the Platinum Metallic paint and interior materials were faultless. I had never owned a car with such stellar and fit and finish. And that tartan upholstery? Well, it reminded me of Jackie Stewart’s F1 helmet. I had arrived.

Some surprises eventually emerged, including that one door had previously been VW Lime Green. Annoyed, I called the seller, who confessed that the original had been stolen while the car was being serviced. (Aside: Who steals a door?) When I finally decided that the MacPherson struts were inadequate, I replaced them with Konis. The swap took all day and resulted in perceptibly different front and rear dynamics best described as “sketchy.”

No sooner had I gotten the Scirocco “dialed in,” however, than a move from California to Florida for grad school dictated change. The VW obliged, with a U-Haul box on its roof, a bicycle riding the tailgate, and my stereo, electric typewriter, slide rule, scuba gear, Igloo cooler, and current girlfriend all squeezed inside. The whole rig totally gave off a Grapes of Wrath vibe.

That Igloo came in handy, it turns out, as the air conditioning faltered in Texas, in August, making for one sweaty ride. But it wasn’t enough. The last straw for my passenger was camping in Texarkana, Arkansas, and witnessing an armadillo scamper past the tent at night, as cicadas sang loudly in the stifling heat. Adding to the sadness of the “See ya!” that soon followed was that I was now once again confined to a student’s budget, so the Volkswagen didn’t get the love it deserved. I eventually sold it, lazy A/C and all, plus a suspect alternator and a sticking odometer.

In 2018, I contested an SCCA autocross at California Speedway in a 2004 Mini Cooper S. Another entrant had a race-prepared first-gen Scirocco. When I told him I’d owned a sweet Champagne Edition for a time, he really lit up. “Are you kidding me?” he exclaimed. “Those are so rare!”

Another one bought right but sold too soon…

***

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Once upon a time, you could—instead of a bunch of crossovers and maybe three sedans and seven pickup trucks, like today—get all sorts of interesting new stuff. Like lots and lots of sporty, cool imported cars … Alfa Romeo Spider, Datsun 240Z, Porsche 914, Toyota Celica, Volvo 1800S, to name a few. And today’s subject, the Volkswagen Scirocco.

The Scirocco, along with the Golf, were the result of a big change in VW in the ’70s. Up until their appearance, VWs were eminently predictable: Round, happy looking rear-engined economy cars, with an air-cooled four. While the Golf effectively replaced the Beetle (though VW never officially called it that until the 1998 New Beetle), the Scirocco replaced the Karmann Ghia.

And like the Karmann Ghia—a favorite of mine, by the way—it was the basic VW with the same basic underpinnings, just in a snazzier suit. The K-G was a pretty car, and though it looked sporty it had the same engine and horsepower as the Beetle, so it wasn’t exactly a ball of fire.

But it sure was pretty. And a convertible was available as well, right up through its swan-song year of 1974. The convertibles were relatively rare, however, compared to the coupes. I was very happy to see this mint example at the Maple City Cruise Night in Monmouth, Illinois, last August.

And it was even in the same color combination as our Scirocco today—dark green with saddle tan interior, a favorite combo of mine. There was no Scirocco convertible sadly, but I am not sure how it would have looked if such an animal had been offered, with the fastback styling of the coupe.

But that’s enough Karmann-Ghia love for today; pardon the digression. At any rate, the Scirocco first appeared fairly early in ’74 in Europe, but it was a ’75 model when it first showed up on American shores. Like the Golf/Rabbit, it was front-wheel drive, a water-cooled engine, and wore very angular, modern styling.

Under the hood was a 1588 cc / 97-cubic-inch four, which by 1980 produced 76 horsepower at 5500 rpm and 84 lb-ft of torque. A little different from a ’75 Caddy with a 500-cu-in V-8. But, of course, it was a much smaller, zippier car. Sciroccos were 155.7 inches long with a 94.5-inch wheelbase.

As luck would have it, I have a 1980 VW Scirocco brochure, so I was able to identify the color of our featured car as Colibri Green Metallic, with a leatherette interior in Gazelle. Other colors available in ’80 included Mars Red, Brazil Brown Metallic, and Diamond Silver Metallic. You could also get a red interior.

Again referring to my ’80 brochure (I love collecting old car brochures, don’t you?) 0-50 mph took 7.5 seconds and top speed was 103 mph, which probably sounded pretty great in the 55-mph-speed-limited USA of 1981. Factory options included air conditioning, a rear window washer and wiper, five-speed manual (a four-speed manual was standard), three-speed automatic, and a sun roof, as seen on this example.

Our featured car is yet another find by my friend Jayson Coombes. It was on display at the Castle Hills Classic Car Show in Lewisville, Texas, in May 2023. Jayson sent a lot of pictures from that event, and there was a lot of excellent rolling stock (including a beautiful ’64 Buick Skylark Sport Wagon), but I zeroed in on this VW due to its gorgeous color, gorgeous condition, and the fact that I haven’t seen a Scirocco, in any condition, in probably 25 years. The 1981 model year was the last for this generation, but starting in 1982, an all-new Scirocco would take over and fight the good fight into the early ’90s, when the also-fetching Corrado took over.

Where have all the sporty, inexpensive cars gone? I don’t know, but there sure used to be a lot!

***

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Given the global impact of the Volkswagen Golf, which turns 50 this year, it was only appropriate that we solicit the perspective of one of our veteran colleagues across the pond. We’ve adjusted the lexicon to suit American readers, though a few UK-specific references remain for the sake of authenticity. —Ed.

Bernd Pischetsrieder, a former Volkswagen boss, once volunteered in a round-table interview that he had just driven the latest Golf model due for launch in a few months.

“What’s it like?” asked one journalist. Pischetsrieder looked nonplussed.

“It’s like a Golf,” he replied, staggered that anyone could be quite so ignorant.

He had a point. Over 50 years and a total 37 million sales across the world, VW’s Golf has often been the answer to pretty much any and every motoring question. Now in its eighth generation, for the last half-century, Golf has been the quintessential family-sized hatchback: spacious, economical to run, reliable, stylish, and, like the original Mini, brilliantly classless.

It’s been beloved by generations of European families, including our own Royal family, and by quite a few Americans, where it was originally badged as the Rabbit. And in that super-sized land, our medium-sized Golf is seen as a compact car.

Nevertheless, as a Beetle replacement, the Golf was a long time in gestation. From as far back as 1952, under VW’s first managing director, Heinrich Nordhoff, the company had been developing a series of rear-engine Beetle replacements—over 70 of them, many of which were painstakingly developed and then rejected. By 1967, and after a prolonged German sales slump, VW was getting desperate about a replacement for the charismatic but aging car, which had been designed by Ferdinand Porsche under instructions from Adolf Hitler. The company’s finances were in dire straits, sales were tumbling, and all the management had come up with was the weird Type 3 Variant, the anodyne K70, and endless clunky Beetle-replacement prototypes going back to the 1950s.

In the end it took a visit to the Turin motor show by director general Kurt Lotz and Italian importer Gerhard Gumpert. There they each wrote down their favorite models, only to discover that most of them were designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, and a light appeared at the end of the tunnel. VW project EA337 became the first Golf.

While “Blizzard” and “Caribe” were considered as names for the new hatchback, the Golf name won out. It was previously thought to have two possible derivatives: first, that it followed a VW pattern of calling cars after winds (Passat, a German name for a trade wind; Scirocco, a warm Mediterranean wind from the Sahara), and Golf is close to Gulf Stream (Golfstrom in German); or second, that it was named after a sport, as were cars like the Polo and the Derby.

It turned out, though, to be named after a horse, a Hannover gelding owned by Hans-Joachim Zimmermann, then VW’s head of purchasing. In 1973, VW chairman Horst Münzner came over one weekend and rode Zimmermann’s horse, and both men thought the Golf name was a good one for the new hatchback. Zimmermann revealed all when he donated a picture of Golf the horse to the Stiftung Automuseum Volkswagen: “My horse was the inspiration for the Golf’s name, it stands for top-class, elegance and reliability. May the Golf have a long history of success. My horse got to be 27 years old, and in human terms, that meant it reached the ripe old age of 95. That is a pretty good omen.”

Perhaps equally portentous was the fact that Giugiaro considered his folded-paper Golf design to be the most important car of his distinguished career, and it stands close scrutiny even today.

Not only did Golf become a best seller, accounting for more than 50 percent of VW sales by the end of the 1970s, it gradually morphed into a linchpin of the entire VW Group operation, with all other models spun off the basic kit of parts that underpinned Golf. So, think of Polo as the small Golf, Passat as the big Golf, and so it went on, to include Audis (posh Golfs), Seats (sporty Spanish Golfs), and Škodas (Czech Golfs). And if the GTI was a fast Golf, the Touran was a van Golf, and the Tiguan an SUV Golf.

Last month, VW presented its latest Golf—the last to be powered by combustion—to the world. It’s far from all new and can trace its underpinnings to the 2012 Mk7 model, which is one of the finest mass-production cars ever built.

Trouble is, the Mk7’s replacement, the Mk8 of 2020, would have been fine were it not for the dreadful touchscreen system with its confusing CARIAD software and its wrongheaded slider switches for adjusting radio volume and heating, which weren’t even illuminated at night.

So this new Golf is really 8.2, if you like, with some of its software and switchgear improved and upgraded, but sharing its MEB platform structure pretty much unchanged from the Mk7. As a result, it’s probably just as good to drive but with a load more interfering electronic safety systems.

And will there be a Mk9? Probably. After his predecessor denied that there would be a replacement Golf, new VW boss Thomas Schäfer proved to have a better grasp on the public’s love for the familiar and trusted, and he is determined not to throw away the name, which has been a bestseller ’round the world for the last 50 years.

“The Golf has been at the heart of the Volkswagen brand for half a century now,” Schäfer said at the new car’s launch, “offering affordable mobility for all at the highest technical level. It has constantly adapted itself to customer needs and has thus become a global bestseller… The Golf does not get any better than this.”

As Alan Price sang in the famous 1987 TV commercial for the Mk2 Golf, which starred model Paula Hamilton: “Everyone is going through changes. No one knows what’s going on … ”

Well, we do—a bit. Schäfer’s all-new Golf won’t arrive until 2028, at which point it’ll be a battery-electric vehicle, and given the way VW has twisted and turned on the hook of good intentions for the last decade, that leaves lots of room for maneuvering, especially as the EU won’t actually ban combustion-engined cars until 2035. In other words, watch this space …

But let’s go back to the Golf’s heyday, starting with where it’s built. Though it has been produced around the world, the Golf is most associated with the 70 million square foot plant at Wolfsburg in Germany. Built in 1938, the factory was established on a greenfield site near the village of Fallersleben. At its inauguration it was named KdF-Stadt – Hitler’s original name for the Volkswagen Beetle was KdF-Wagen, for “kraft durch freude,” meaning strength through joy. The site was later named Stadt des Kdf-Wagens bei Fallersleben—City of the Strength Through Joy Car at Fallersleben—and was expanded into a larger city with blocks of flats for workers and a power station that provided electricity and heat to those workers’ homes.

After World War II and the reinstatement of production of the Beetle, it was renamed Wolfsburg, after the nearby Wolfsburg Castle. In 2003, for the launch of the fifth-generation Golf, Volkswagen temporarily renamed the city ‘Golfsburg’ as a fairly rubbish publicity stunt.

So here we are in 1974, and the launch of the first-ever Golf. “Great power, great performance and great fun,” ran the copy lines for the razor-edged little car. It arrived in the UK in October 1974, but the road testers didn’t get their hands on it until the following year.

Motor magazine’s car breakers tested the 1100L model in early 1975, and their judgment was nuanced. They liked the smooth and tractable engine, excellent gearchange, responsive steering, and safe handling, though the photographs seemed to show them hurling the little car through every available corner. What they didn’t like so much was the £1517 price (£11,215 today, or roughly $14K), which made it quite pricey against the Austin Allegro, Alfasud, and Ford Escort. And the performance data was rather underwhelming: an 87.4-mph top speed, 0-to-60 mph in 17.8 seconds, and an average of 28.4 mpg.

It was four months until they got their hands on the more luxurious and powerful 1500LS, which cost £1798 (£13,292, or roughly $16,750). Motor’s verdict was that the seating was too hard, ventilation was poor, and the gearchange felt imprecise, but they still liked it and it performed a lot better, with a 97.8-mph top speed, 0-to-60 mph in 12.6 seconds, and average fuel economy of 27.8 mpg.

The Golf was runner-up to Citroën’s CX in the 1975 Car of the Year award, but the public knew what they wanted, and in its first year of sales the VW was the UK’s 14th best-selling car, with almost 20,000 sales.

I owned an early ’80s Mk I with a 74 hp (75 bhp), 1.6-liter engine and five-speed gearbox. Bought secondhand, it was a lovely little car: nippy, economical, and very cool compared with the competition at the time. I was far from alone; there are pictures of a certain Diana Spencer standing beside a light blue Mk1. Amazingly, the Mk1 model continued to be produced in South Africa until 2009.

In 1976 came the GTI, which is considered to be one of the first-ever hot hatches. The UK didn’t get it until 1977, and only as a special-order, left-hand-drive model. Back to our fast and furious Motor testers, who concluded: “If Volkswagen are as successful in competition as they have been in developing this car, they will prove formidable opponents.”

UK buyers would have to wait until 1979, however, for a full factory right-hand-drive GTI, which basically was the start of the British public’s love affair with fast family hatches; there have been times when GTI models have accounted for more than 10 percent of all UK Golf orders.

The second-generation Golf was introduced in 1983 (1984 in the UK). By this time the GTI version was sporting a 1.8-liter engine, and with the larger body and more practicality, many consider the Mk2 of whatever stripe to be one of the finest Golf models produced.

A complete restyle arrived with the Mk III, which helped it finally garner the European Car of the Year award, in 1992. The 1998 Mk4 marked an attempt to take the car upmarket with a lovely attention to detail in the cabin, but also a big weight increase, lackluster handling, and an eight-valve GTI model that was scarcely worthy of the badge. Largely unloved except by VW executives, the Mk4 was compared unkindly to the sharp handling and looks of the 1998 Ford Focus.

The fifth and sixth generations (2003 and 2008, respectively) moved the game on with independent rear suspension, but again with a weight increase. It was the Mk7 that incorporated VW’s new MQB platform, which pushed the Golf back to the forefront, with more space, a bigger boot, and more rear leg room than before.

And in 50 years, boy, did the Golf grow. The new Golf Mk8 measures 168.7 inches in length, with a curb weight that starts at 2767 pounds. Contrast that with the tiny Mk I, at just 146 inches long and weighing 1764 pounds, but the latest model is also safer, quieter, more comfortable, faster, and more economical, so progress hasn’t all been backward.

Now it’s the beginning of the end for a car that many learned to drive in and which in the last half-century has sold on average 2000 units a day. While the Golf continued to top the sales charts as the world went into Covid lockdown, its fall started in 2022, a troubled year in general for the motor industry. At that point, the Golf’s 15-year run at the top of the European sales charts ended, with VW’s manufacturing and supply issues causing the car to fall to fifth place, with Peugeot’s 208 assuming the top spot.

Not that the Golf will disappear from our roads overnight. With total sales of over 2.3 million in the UK, there have been at least 442 different Golf models over the years, which makes it very difficult to work out exactly how many are still on the road, although one estimate has it at just over a million.

As they said in the first GTI ads, “Everyone must have something in life he can rely on.”

If you are someone who still has a Golf parked outside, you’re part of a once-important but now slowly diminishing herd. But don’t despair, your daily driver has been one of the most influential and significant cars ever built, and if you look after it, it most surely will look after you.

***

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Along a stretch of West Putnam Avenue in Greenwich, Connecticut, you can fill every one of your automotive dreams. There you’ll find BMW of Greenwich, Mercedes-Benz of Greenwich, New Country Porsche of Greenwich, and Miller Motorcars (Ferrari, Maserati, Aston Martin, Bugatti, and on and on). But if what you’re after is a little oasis of humanity, look a little further to Freccia Brothers, the small Volkswagen repair shop frozen in time at 246 West Putnam. No fancy lighting, no salesmen in Italian suits, and no cars worth more than the GNP of some small countries.

Freccia Bros. has been standing for more than a century and has not changed much in that time. It doesn’t have the look of an antiseptic operating room—no banks of gleaming equipment. Rather, it has the look of a working garage, with real mechanics with dirt under their nails, who work from their knowledge, not technicians reliant on a computer to interface with the car to tell them what’s wrong. All the tools they need to get the job done are there, and nothing more.

Walk in and you’re transported. Some parts probably haven’t been painted since it opened its doors in 1923. The space is like an art gallery, complete with a wonderful tableau of VW ephemera and tools. Air-cooled horizontally opposed engines sit on surfaces like working sculptures. Look deep into corners and you’ll see the long history of a family business. There are no lifts. The floor laid down a century ago founder Giuseppe Freccia is still billiard table–level, perfect for jack stands, and every Friday afternoon, Frank Freccia III still winds all the clocks.

Out front, you’ll see a who’s who of the Volkswagen world: every type of Bug, from split-windows to Super Beetles, with a Baja Bug thrown in for good measure. A sporty Karmann Ghia sits fender to fender with a Thing, which sits next to an original Rabbit cabriolet. Everywhere you look, VWs. Freccia Brothers is steeped in history, and this is only part of it.

Giuseppe Freccia, his wife Carmela, and their sons Frank and Gene made their way from Cosenza, Italy, to Greenwich in the early 1920s. They purchased a piece of land and set to work. Giuseppe was a stone mason by trade, and he literally and figuratively laid the foundation of what would become Freccia Brothers, founded in 1922.

When the doors opened, they started out by painting carriages and horseless carriages. From there, the family went into car sales. With hard work and perseverance, they made it through the Great Depression while living above the shop. During WWII, when cars were a scarce commodity, the Freccias and the men they hired would head out on the road in search of inventory. They traveled south to Washington, D.C. and as far north as Maine to buy cars and drive them back to the shop.

They also got into repairs, though there wasn’t much around at that time. Frank and Gene often spoke about sitting around in the 1920s and ’30s waiting for a car to break down. In time, however, their business grew.

Giuseppe died young, in the 1930s, but his sons kept things going. Their sister, Emily, a woman very much ahead of her time, joined the business as a salesperson and, in the ’50s, established a real estate and insurance agency at the shop. She and her brothers were expanding their empire, building houses in the area while keeping the shop open. Business was good, and soon the next generation stepped in to lend a hand.

Frank Jr.—aka Skip—had been hanging around the shop from the time he was able to walk, and when he got out of the Marine Corps in 1961, he came on full-time. Once again, there were two generations of Freccias working under one roof, and they were happy to work on anything their customers brought them.

Then the ’60s happened, and the Freccias got into Volkswagens in a big way. They never looked back. Freccia Brothers became known as air-cooled specialists. They were repairing daily drivers throughout the ’60s and ’70s, and after 1979, once Beetle production for the U.S. came to an end, they started doing restorations on people’s beloved VWs.

With all this work, they would need more mechanics. Luckily, there were more Freccias waiting in the wings. In 1972, 10-year-old Frank III started hanging around. Every minute he wasn’t in school, he was learning his craft from his grandfather, great uncle, and dad, until he came on full-time in 1981. Now, there were three generations of Freccias taking care of the VW world. That carried on until Gene died in 1993, followed by Frank in 1998. That left Skip and Frank III.

Other cars came into the shop on occasion, but the reputation of Freccia Bros. preceded it, and air-cooled VWs were the vocation and avocation of the shop. The cars for sale out front are so loved, and they all have names. And if one of these beloved VWs does get sold, the name goes with it.

Frank III thought work would drop off in the 1990s and 2000s, that the generation of air-cooled lovers would disappear, but the younger generation, who really hadn’t had contact with the VW when new, came to love them, just like the people who came before. The cars’ appeal is transcendent, he discovered, and things kept right on cooking at the shop. Folks who have a Bug in their collection don’t own it just because of the price point, and many would argue they get more attention in their VW than they do in their Ferrari or Lamborghini. And it’s always more fun getting a thumbs-up than it is getting the bird.

Frank III has friends in the industry who have regaled him with horror stories of terrible customers. Thankfully, that’s never been the case at 246 West Putnam. The Freccias have always understood that their customers’ Volkswagens are essentially family members, and they want the best for them. For his part, in 50 years of doing this, Frank III says he has never dreaded coming to work.

Having his family around makes that easy, and these days, Frank III’s kids have stepped into roles around the shop. Each one has a name that sounds like they fell out of the pages of a great novel: Anastasia, Dartagnan, Locksley, Gene (for Giuseppe,) and Guinevere.

Like any good Freccia, Guinevere hung around the shop as a child, sweeping up and doing other things to make herself useful. Then she went off to art school. On her return, she made it her task to bring Freccia Brothers kicking and screaming into the 21st century (sort of.) She banished the rotary phone. They now have voicemail. There is a website, but no computer. She deals with marketing, photography, social media, anything to get the word out. She also helps out when her small hands can get in a tight space that others can’t.

Guinevere also felt it was time to phase out the daily-driver Toyotas and Hondas that came to the shop. They were just way too busy with the air-cooled stuff. Of course, they would never turn away old customers, even if they weren’t, for some reason, driving VWs. By 2017, then, Freccia Bros. was pretty much VWs all day, every day—Bugs, Squarebacks, Fastbacks, Buses, Karmann Ghias, Things, you name it. But have no fear, they’ll make time for early Rabbits and Jettas, too.

Skip died in January 2018. By then there was a successor in place: David D’Andrea, a carpenter and landscaper who also loved working on cars, had started hanging around the shop in 2012. He became a partner in the shop the next year and soon became Guinevere’s partner. He also proved to be a stellar mechanic, the guy who can get into the mind of a carburetor and make it sing.

Some of the cars that come into the shop have been under the Freccias’ care for more than 40 years. They are complemented by a regular stream of new customers, including folks who fell for a pretty face at auction only to discover their “people’s car” isn’t all it was cracked up to be. Frank and David are all too happy to have them. If and when those cars move on to other owners, you just know they’ll somehow find their way back to the little white shop on West Putnam.

People say that Freccia’s is an anomaly among all the high-ticket automotive purveyors around them. Frank’s response to that is simple: “We were here first, and we never left.” There have been countless offers over the years to buy them out, too, but Frank understands that could only end with someone tearing down the building that was erected by his ancestors in order to put up some flashy showroom. “Where would I go every day if I did that?” he muses.

As is befitting such a long-standing fixture of the Greenwich community, the shop gets a great deal of attention, and the Freccias use it to do good. In 2022, to celebrate their 100th Christmas, they put out the word they were having a toy drive. In the end they collected more than a thousand gifts for kids in foster care and other situations. They continued their new tradition in 2023, and lots of deserving kids had a Merry Christmas.

Like his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather before him, Frank Freccia III sees no reason to stop what he is doing. He is surrounded by his family, the work they do is respected far and wide, and, most importantly, it’s too much fun to give up anytime soon.

Be nice and be honest; that’s how they do it at Freccia’s. Because of that, people come from all over to have the Freccias lay hands on their cars. Even when Frank tries to tell them they are too far away, that they should try to find another shop, they won’t be dissuaded. They want that special touch, that eye for detail, and pride in a job done right. People crash-land at their door when a cross-country trek in a 60-year-old V-Dub goes awry, and they camp out until their car is road-worthy. When you get a bill, it has been handwritten by Frank III, and you are happy to pay it.

People stop in every day and say they have been driving by for 20 years, or their grandfather drove them past the shop. They saw things going on but had to find out for themselves what magic was happening inside. And when they do find out, it all puts smiles on their faces.

***

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Few people are as knowledgeable about automobiles and their unique driving characteristics than Jay Leno, so it’s a rare occurrence when he needs help to “fill in a gap.” In the latest episode of Jay Leno’s Garage, Jay decides it’s high time to learn about the Volkswagen Scirocco. And who better to school Jay than award-winning automotive journalist, YouTube host, and Scirocco aficionado Jason Cammisa?

The question is, what took him so long to take one for a spin? As Jay explains, he was pretty busy building his comedy career in the 1980s and had little interest in most Volkswagens at the time. In fact, he’d just purchased a year-old 1986 Lamborghini Countach for $70,000, which “seemed like crazy money at the time … I was so captivated by that whole Italian thing and Ford Cobras, so Scirocco just seemed like a regular car.”

Cammisa admits that it is—and isn’t. The knowledgeable and hilarious host of three Hagerty YouTube series—Icons, Know It All, and Revelations, where he has racked up more than 450 million views—has owned his 1987 Scirocco 16-valve since 1997. He went to high school in Germany and was a fan of German cars, but he knew nothing about Sciroccos. He wanted a Golf. But when his father “kind of reneged” on a promise to buy him a car in college, he used his dad’s credit card—designated for emergencies—to buy this second-gen Scirocco for $1500 (in the U.S.).

Somehow, he survived his father’s wrath and never let go of the car.

“I’ve driven literally thousands of cars for work, basically everything in production for the last 30 years, and this is still the one that makes me laugh the most,” he says, “which is weird because it shouldn’t. It’s a common car for common people.”

“And you were pretty common, as I remember,” Jay says.

“I still am,” Jason admits. “Trash, complete trash.”

“To me, Volkswagen was always nice, and there was a cute aspect to the Bug and the hippie van and all that kind of stuff,” Jay says. “And then the next gen, the Rabbit, didn’t do much for me. And I didn’t pay much attention to the Golf. The Scirocco just seemed like another version, but it’s not. This is much more sophisticated.”

Styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro and bodied by Karmann, this Scirocco began its life with a 1.8-liter, 123-horsepower four-cylinder engine mated to a manual five-speed transmission. It still has that gearbox, but it is now powered by a 2.0-liter with European cams and intake, which boosted horsepower to 170.

“This is a Mark II Scirocco, but it’s the same exact platform underneath,” Jason says. “And the Scirocco was a first-gen GTI—the original Golf GTI with a lower roof.”

Jason dives even deeper into the car’s styling and lineage. “Look at the rear window … this looks to me like a BMW Hofmeister kink,” he says, then continues to explain some of the car’s finer points. When Jason is finished, Jay says, “More information than I wanted to know, but that’s OK.”

Cammisa is undeterred. “This was the last of the A-1 chassis, so it got all the things the original GTI never got, like power steering, four-wheel discs, 16 valves …”

Jay is clearly trying to figure out exactly why this car is priceless to Cammisa.

“You bought it when you didn’t know what it was, and then you fell in love with it. So it’s like imprinting on a goose. The first thing you see when you open your eyes, that’s your parents. If you were driven home in a ’71 Pinto, would that have … ?”

“Nooooo,” Jason says, emphatically. There’s more to it than that. The thing “weighs 2356 (pounds) and has enough power to have fun. It loves to be sideways.”

Cammisa even shipped it to Germany and cut it loose on the Autobahn. Top speed: 135 mph, “which is horrifying. Don’t do it.”

The car is also a rare sight on the West Coast, Jason says.

“In 15 years of living in California, I’ve seen two Scirocco 16-valves on the road. You just don’t see them. They were fast and cheap, and they snap oversteer. Fast, cheap, and sideways means tree. So they’re all gone. It’s been a challenge to keep this one [on the road].”

Jay asks, “Is this a car you’re keeping your whole life?”

“This is it,” Jason says. “No. 1. Bury me in it.”

Offered the chance to find out if the Sirocco is everything that Cammissa says it is, Jay slides behind the wheel and turns the key. Did he enjoy driving it? Check out the last half of the show to see the verdict, but you can be sure that Jay’s knowledge gap has been properly filled.

***

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When you spend enough time crawling around in car graveyards, as I do, you learn that plenty of seemingly restorable examples of much-sought-after vehicles end up getting discarded and crushed. The Volkswagen Transporter is one of the most vivid examples of this; enthusiasts love them passionately, resale values keep on climbing… and yet here’s another solid Transporter, found in a Denver-area self-service yard. What gives?

This one is a Vanagon, the name Volkswagen used for the third-generation (known as the T3) Transporter in North America. The Vanagon first went on sale here as a 1980 model, replacing the beloved T2.

Volkswagen began selling air-cooled Transporter vans and pickups in the United States in the early 1950s, stubbornly referring to the passenger-van version as a station wagon for many years (to be fair, the Detroit manufacturers took the same approach when marketing their small passenger vans). The first-generation, T1 Transporters were sold in the United States through the 1967 model year, after which the T2 took over here for the 1968 through 1979 model years.

The Vanagon still had its engine in the back, but it was bigger and wore more angular styling than its predecessors. The 1980–82 models were powered by air-cooled engines, just as their 1938 kDf-Wagen ancestor had done, but water-cooled engines began showing up in Vanagons during 1983. This van has a radiator in the front, so it must be an ’83-up Wasserboxer, nein?

Well, VW’s build tag shows a March 1981 date of manufacture, so this van’s (presumable) final owner must have become weary of the original air-cooled mill overheating in Colorado’s hot, thin air and decided to upgrade to a newer, water-cooled rig. The VIN shows that it started out with gasoline power, so at least its original owner didn’t have to tolerate Malaise-Era VW Diesel Misery (actually, the dangerously slow 48-horse Vanagon Diesel was available in the United States for just the 1982 and 1983 model years).

Was the swap ever completed? Engine parts, including a pair of Wasserboxer cylinder heads, are scattered around the rear cargo area but the engine case is missing. Either the project faltered and never drove with water coursing through its veins or the water-cooled engine blew up and didn’t get repaired.

This van isn’t at all rusty and the interior looks to have been decent enough when it arrived here, so how did it meet this fate?

First of all, Front Range Colorado (the part of the state just to the east of the Rocky Mountains) is isolated from America’s other major population centers by the vast distances of the American West. That’s great for automotive enthusiasts who live here (as I do), because the dry climate discourages corrosion and great project vehicles are easy to find at good prices. However, it’s a grueling two- or three-day tow from here to the big cities of the Midwest, and it’s an even more grueling two- or three-day tow over two triple-digit-elevation mountain ranges to the big cities of the West Coast.

A 1961 Transporter in this shape would find an out-of-state rescuer for sure, even if no local air-cooled VW enthusiast had space for it (most of us have all the projects we can handle and then some), but that proved not to be the case for a Transporter two decades newer. Solid Vanagons go to the crusher here on a regular basis, as I’ve shown in the past (and if you think Vanagon Westfalias are immune from the cold steel jaws of the Colorado Crusher, think again).

How about T2 Transporters in Colorado junkyards? They’re a bit harder to find in the boneyards here, but they do show up now and again. I documented a ’78 with the ultra-rare automatic transmission just last summer, plus a ’71 Kombi and a beige-over-brown ’78 with period-correct pinstriping in recent years.

The Vanagon was sold in the United States through the 1991 model year, with the very last T3 Transporters rolling off the assembly line in South Africa in 2002. Volkswagen of America brought over the T4 Transporter as the EuroVan for the 1993 through 2003 model years, but sales numbers here never approached those of the T1-T3 vans. After that, VWoA took a shot at selling Chrysler-built minivans with Routan badges here for the 2009–14 period, with results about as grim as everyone predicted. Now the Volkswagen Van has returned to the United States, powered by electrons and showing design influences from three-quarters of a century of Transporters.

***

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If we were to ask Mr. Peabody to set the dial on his Wavelength Acceleration Bidirectional Asynchronous Controller, or WABAC Machine, to January 17, 1949, we’d bear witness to a most curious sight. What’s that rolling off the enormous ship docked in New York, Mr. Peabody?

Why, it’s a Volkswagen Type 1, Sherman! In fact, there’s a pair of them!

Thanks to the marvel of cartoon time travel, Hagerty can indeed confirm that on this day, exactly 75 years ago, the first two Beetles spun their wheels on American soil. Accompanying them was Ben Pon, the Dutch car dealer (and father of the Type 2 Microbus) who two years earlier had introduced VW to the Netherlands, the marque’s first export market.

Heb ik een deal voor je! Pon probably said to a small crowd of onlookers that wintry New York day, who were as confused by his Dutch as they were by the weird little car before them. He did indeed have a deal for us, but he had little luck finding a partner to import and sell the cars here, so we didn’t take him up on it.

It’s unclear where those two Beetles ended up, in fact, but the following year, New Yorker Max Hoffman took the idea and ran with it, adding Beetles to the growing roster of European cars he would become famous for peddling to American drivers. To provide parts and support to the exploding U.S. market, Volkswagen of America was set up in 1955, and by 1960, more than half a million Beetles were traveling our roads and parking themselves in American culture.

To commemorate the occasion of their arrival on these shores, Volkswagen has launched a year-long campaign to spotlight “the people, products, and places that have defined one of America’s best-known brands,” to include a commercial during Super Bowl LVIII, which will be played between two teams that are not the Dallas Cowboys.

“Over the past 75 years, Volkswagen has grown from a tale of two Beetles into a part of America’s cultural fabric,” said Rachael Zaluzec, Senior Vice President of Customer Experience & Brand Marketing for Volkswagen of America. “We carry people in our name and our heart. As we look forward to the next 75, we will celebrate the real people and real-life moments that have made Volkswagen brand the people’s love story it is today.”

Hagerty is eager to see how the next 75 years have gone for VW, but as yet Mr. Peabody hasn’t quite worked out the kinks in his WAFORWARD Machine, so details are still unclear.

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The annual Consumer Electronics Show, or CES, kicks off January 9 in Las Vegas, and the big auto news to ooze out of it is Volkswagen’s announcement that it will start integrating OpenAI’s ChatGPT into select vehicles starting in the second quarter of this year. The chatbot will talk its way into cars built on VW’s MEB and MQB platforms equipped with the IDA voice assistant: the ID.3, ID.4, ID.5, and ID.7, as well as the new Tiguan, Passat, and Golf. Volkswagen will be the first volume manufacturer to offer the emerging technology as standard equipment.

The system was developed by VW’s tech partner, the automotive AI firm Cerence, and should enable IDA to control the infotainment, navigation, and HVAC systems. It will also answer general knowledge questions, if and when they arise. “In the future,” says Volkswagen, “AI will provide additional information in response to questions that go beyond this as part of its continuously expanding capabilities. This can be helpful on many levels during a car journey: Enriching conversations, clearing up questions, interacting in intuitive language, receiving vehicle-specific information, and much more—purely hands-free.” That last bit is crucial, as we’ve all seen how AI renders hands.

VW claims the integration will be seamless, and users will not need to create an account or install any apps to access its functionality. Further, we are assured that personal data is protected and that ChatGPT does not gain access to vehicle information. Whew. To engage IDA, users simply say “Hello IDA,” or they can press a button on the steering wheel. That last part might actually be the best bit of news for VW fans—the return of actual buttons, rather than touch panels, to steering wheels. Turns out drivers still enjoy a bit of tactility, even if the most tactile experience of all—rowing your gears—will be unceremoniously stripped from the GTI after 2024.

Without the pesky time-suck of shifting gears to worry about, that frees up drivers to have what we can only hope will be deep and meaningful conversations with their cars.

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I brought home my first classic vehicle back in 2016. It was a 1948 Chevrolet 3600 pickup—my dream vehicle, but not the one you’re looking at here, because later that same year, the lives of my family changed drastically: Our 6-year-old was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Treatment started right away, and the rest of life took a back seat. I found myself in the garage at nights, working to distract myself while my wife took a leave from work to stay by my son’s hospital bedside. We adjusted to our new normal and got everyone back under one roof, albeit with lots of hospital appointments. About a year after the diagnosis, I had the truck licensed, insured, and was hitting up all the local car shows with my kids squeezed beside me.

This situation encouraged my wife to declare, “We need a vehicle the whole family can fit in.” After countless missed opportunities and “paralysis by analysis,” I found it—a 1977 VW T2 Westfalia, sitting in a farmer’s field seven hours north in Quebec. I rented a trailer and volun-told my dad to help bring it home.

It didn’t take long to realize the old bus needed an engine rebuild to get moving again. I decided to seek the help of a VW mechanic. As it happens, I had already been chatting with one in my search for parts, and he had read my bio, which included some background on my son. He was well versed with such trials from his own family, so he cut me a deal and I loaded the tired engine into his pickup. I worked away at the rest of the bus, my son lending me a hand or just dreaming inside the camper. “We’re taking it out in the spring, right Dad?”

As weeks passed, I found myself apprehensive about that goal. There was so much to do! A week before we were set to camp, I got a call from the engine builder. If I could get the bus to him, he would help me get the engine installed. We spent the weekend working in his driveway. We got home Sunday, passed vehicle inspection on Tuesday, and hit the road Friday. A nailbiter, but nothing felt better than pulling into our spot, setting up camp, and standing back to admire our work. She isn’t pretty, but she’s ours and we’ll have these memories forever.

As for my son, he’s in full remission and already making plans for when the bus (“Herbella”) is his. I can’t wait to see that day myself.

***

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Anyone paying even the slightest attention to the automotive world realizes that the station wagon is the automotive equivalent of what paleontologists refer to as a “dead clade walking.” Taken from the film Dead Man Walking, the term refers to groups of animals that barely survive an extinction event; instead, they linger for a bit and then finally die out.

The mainstream abandoned wagons for SUVs decades ago, but a small subset of enthusiasts recognize them for what they are—cars as rewarding to drive as their sedan counterparts, with some added practicality. The cognoscenti refer to them as long-roofs, hipster short-form to distinguish them from their grandparents’ Colony Parks and Country Squires. The holy grail is a manual-transmission long-roof.

Here’s a quick rundown of what’s out there from the last 25 years, with some purely subjective ratings.

1999–2004 BMW E46 and 2005–11 E90 Touring

Fun to drive: 5 / 5
Reliability and maintenance expense: 3.5 / 5
Pros: Safe, solid, sporty, and handsome
Cons: With BMW parts prices, minor irritations can add up quickly.

BMW was somewhat late to the game in offering wagons in the United States. Mercedes had been doing so with regularity since the 1970s, but it wasn’t until the early ’90s that BMW decided to offer the E34 5 Series Touring (or wagon, in BMW-speak) in the states. By the time the car’s successor—the very pretty E39—was introduced, manual transmissions had become almost mythical in the RWD-only 5 Series. The 3 Series was the real sweet spot for BMW wagons in the U.S. market. The E46 generation (1998–2005) was the first officially offered here (there are many gray-market E30 and E36 wagons in the U.S. and almost all are manuals). Sold in six-cylinder 323i and 325i form in either RWD or AWD, these are great and highly sought-after cars that will do 300,000-plus miles with the usual BMW maintenance to things like seals, axle shafts, cooling systems, and power windows.

The car’s successor, the E90/E91 (2006–13) was equally desirable, with added refinement and power. Many of the pain points are the same, with the addition of a failure-prone electric water pump. Expect to pay anywhere from $15,000 to $25,000 for a manual depending on miles, condition, and options. Rear-drive cars are prized for their lightness and simplicity and carry a slight premium in warm climates. A good E46 or E90/E91 is probably the gold standard for European performance wagons, both in driving enjoyment and reliability.

2003–08 Mazda 6 Sport Wagon and 2002–03 Protégé 5

Fun to drive: 3 /5
Reliability and maintenance expense: 4 / 5
Pros: Fun to drive; relatively inexpensive parts and maintenance
Cons: FWD only; horribly rust-prone; lack the safety of Euro wagons

Maybe the most overlooked manual-transmission wagon is the 2002–08, or first-generation (GG1), Mazda 6. While it takes a knock for being FWD-only, the long-roof 6, dubbed the Sport Wagon, was offered with a five-speed manual, most commonly paired with a Ford-supplied Duratec 3.0-liter V-6. It wasn’t a bad setup and made 204 horsepower. Sadly, there was no Mazdaspeed 6 wagon. The vehicle was handsome, reliable, and a decent performer, but outside of the West Coast, they’re getting very hard to find today.

The same can be said for the other Mazda manual wagon, the Protégé 5. Based on the entertainingly simple Protégé sedan, the 5 wasn’t your average hatch, but a small wagon, almost unique in the marketplace in the early aughts, and certainly extinct now. Back in 2001, Car and Driver called its driving dynamics “scintillating” and said that the car had real personality: “Cheeky. Insolent. Pert.” Like the 6, the Protégé 5 seems to hold up well mechanically, and 200,000 miles doesn’t seem uncommon for West Coast cars that haven’t succumbed to body rust. Even though the price delta between the two models was significant when new, nice examples of either the 6 or the Protégé 5 seem to trade in the $6000 to $7000 range.

2009–19 VW Jetta/Golf SportWagen

Fun to drive: 3.5 / 5
Reliability and maintenance expense: 3 / 5
Pros: The newest cars on the list, some of which are still under an impressively long 6-year/72,000-mile post-Dieselgate warranty
Cons: Somewhat underpowered, irrespective of model; the usual Volkswagen quality issues.

Modern VW wagon offerings in the U.S. consist of the Passat, Jetta, and Golf. Manual Passats ended with the B5 generation (1997–2004). The 1.8 Turbo and VR6 cars both came with five-speed manuals, as did the TDI. The oldest are now approaching 30 years old, and consequently, most B5 Passats are worn-out bags of trouble. And as tempting as the unicorn status of a 275-hp, 4Motion (AWD) Passat W8 manual wagon might be, (about 100 were sold in the U.S.), the maintenance hassles of daily-driving a VW this old and complex are way too daunting. A Mk 4 Jetta VR6 manual wagon was a sweet little ride, but they’re mostly gone, too, and I haven’t seen one in at least a decade.

The consolation prize is the fact that late-model Jetta/Golf SportWagens are quite decent cars, and not uncommon with manual transmissions. The most desirable is probably the last of the line—the AWD Golf Alltrack wagon, which was discontinued after the 2019 model year. Manual-transmission Alltracks are still worth close to their original MSRP, in the mid-to-high twenties.

2008–12 Audi A4 Avant

Fun to drive: 4/ 5
Reliability and maintenance expense: 1 / 5
Pros: Beautiful inside and out, excellent driving dynamics
Cons: Abysmal reliability record

Audi has a long history of building sporty wagons with manual transmissions. The 100 (5000) based cars from the 1980s were all equipped with manuals if you opted for the Quattro AWD system. And let’s not forget the Porsche-engineered-and-assembled RS2. These days it’s a blue-chip, $75,000-plus collectible.

The B8 A4 Avant was the last Audi wagon to offer a manual transmission in the U.S. They’re gorgeous inside and out, and lovely to drive, albeit quite scarce with a manual. But having personally known two people whose 2.0L turbo A4s have suffered catastrophic, post-warranty engine failures, and one other whose 50,000-mile car had a quart-every-600-miles oil habit, it’s hard to recommend an A4 to anyone in good conscience.

2003–07 Volvo V70 R

Fun to drive: 5 / 5
Reliability and maintenance expense: 2.5 / 5
Pros: Handsome; insane inline-five turbo engine
Cons: Pricey parts and service

For most of its history in the U.S. prior to the early aughts, Volvo offered a manual-transmission wagon. Outside of one of Paul Newman’s V-8–swapped 740 wagons, the holy grail is almost certainly the P2-generation V70 R wagon. Its maniacal turbocharged inline-5 made almost 300 hp, and while RWD would have been a hoot, the car was offered only in AWD form. Six-speed manuals were rare, and those who opted for this were treated to one of the most artfully designed shifters outside of a gated Ferrari box. Well on their way to being full-fledged collectibles, cars with average miles are mid-teens, and the best, low-mileage cars can break $30,000. A small price to pay for what might be one of the greatest manual-transmission wagons ever.

2005–07 Subaru Legacy 2.5 GT Wagon

Fun to drive: 5 / 5
Reliability and maintenance expense: 3 / 5
Pros: WRX style, power, and grip; infinitely modifiable
Cons: The usual Subie flat-four head gasket issues every 90,000 miles or so

In the early aughts, the non-Birkenstock wearers in Subie showrooms were drooling over the WRX. You could excuse them for overlooking its more practical sibling, the Legacy 2.5 GT Wagon. With AWD and the same 250-hp 2.5-liter turbo flat-four as the WRX, a five-speed Legacy GT wagon is truly something special. Although it’s the same body as the far more common Outback—albeit with a functional hood scoop, shorn of body cladding, and riding far lower—the Legacy GT Wagon was actually quite handsome. Since one of these is just as tunable as the WRX, finding a stock, manual-gearbox model with low miles is nearly impossible, but the market has yet to catch on to how special these cars are. About $15,000 or so buys a nice one.

2004–11 Saab 9-3 SportCombi

Fun to drive: 3 / 5
Reliability and maintenance expense: 4 / 5
Pros: Quirky looks, nicely appointed inside, GM serviceability, bargain prices
Cons: Orphan status and uncertain support going forward

Saab offered wagons in the U.S. off and on for about four decades, but the only one it sold in volume was the 9-5. Top spec 9-5 Aero wagons with a five-speed are quite rare, and the few good ones that remain generally have asking prices in the ten-grand range. Most, however, are 200,000-mile examples with asks of about half that. Perhaps more interesting, though, is the last-generation 9-3 Combi. Sadly, GM had actually started to do some OK things at Saab right around the time the wheels fell off the Swedish brand. The last generation of the 9-3 and 9-5 were pretty solid, but only the GM Epsilon-based 9-3 was offered as a wagon. As you may have noticed, nearly every Euro brand has to have a clever name for “wagon.” Saab’s, unsurprisingly, was the oddest: “Combi” is Saab for wagon. And quite a decent wagon it was. With its vertical taillights and upswept profile, it was quirky like a Saab should be, and nicely appointed inside.

The 9-3’s 2.0-liter turbo GM Ecotec four managed a wholly adequate 210 hp. Most were FWD, but somewhere around 10 to 20 percent of them were ordered with AWD. Saab called this model the SportCombi X. The manual version of this car is the true 9-3 wagon unicorn. The final version of the 9-3 racked up a reasonable reputation for reliability and maintenance costs. This is backed up by the fact that most of the cars you’ll see advertised have between 150,000 and 225,000 miles on them. FWD manual 9-3 wagons with under 100,000 miles are around $9000 or so. A similar manual 9-3X might bring around $13,000 to $15,000, if it’s really nice. The largely unfounded concerns about parts seem to be keeping Saab values down.

2011–13 Cadillac CTS-V Wagon

Fun to drive: 5 / 5
Reliability and maintenance expense: 4 / 5
Pros: Insane power and acceleration with braking and chassis to match; wicked good looks
Cons: Six-figure price, rarity

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Via Hagerty Insider

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A 1963 split screen VW bus for sale on U.K. website Car and Classic is certain to divide opinion.

Technically, it’s two VW Type 2s that have been mashed together to create a tow truck and camper based on the “fifth wheel” idea. As if that’s not enough, the original air-cooled flat-four engine has been ditched in favour of a two-liter, turbocharged motor from an Audi S3. It’s mated to an Audi automatic transmission and the whole drivetrain is neatly packaged beneath the vehicle’s rear deck.

An external roll cage stiffens the shell to cope with more than four times the power that the bonkers bus would have had in its original form. It sits a little lower than standard, but otherwise outwardly this Frankenbus looks suitably period in its two-tone cream-beige paintwork with matching steelies.

The trailer features a king size rock’n’roll bed and kitchen, while its Westfalia-style pop-top extends head room to standing height. There’s a stylish wood-slatted roof rack and a roll-out awning to cover your campsite.

The neatest feature is the articulated U-shaped hitch on the bus’s bed which means it can be detached from the camping trailer and driven on its own. The cab has retained much of its originality, keeping a bench seat and its trademark big steering wheel with exposed column. A Hurst-like shifter is in the only real clue that something different has been done.

“Every once in a while you come across a vehicle that’s so impressive, you can’t praise it enough,”reckon Car & Classic. “This is one such vehicle. The brainchild of a very clever and talented individual, we’re sure Volkswagen collectors the world over will want to own this awesome custom creation.”

At the time of writing the bidding had reached just under $30,000,  but whatever price it fetches someone will be getting a fantastic two-for-one deal with this unique Type 2.

The post This is what happens when a VW Type 2 meets an Audi S3 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

They’re cute, compact and set to be a blast on a backroad or charging through the city. Electric iterations of two of the hottest nameplates in the hatchback scene—the Mini Cooper and Volkswagen GTI—have just been revealed.

VW’s ID. GTI concept car is the first of its new electric sub-brand to wear the tantalising TLA (Three Letter Acronym) that made its debut on the Golf in 1975. Based on the little ID. 2all VW is promising “a new, powerful GTI feeling in the way the first electric GTI unleashes its dynamic capabilities.”

In the original car, “I” stood for injection, but now it means “Intelligence,” says VW. The ID. GTI has an electronically-controlled locking front differential like the latest Golf GTI and a Vehicle Dynamics Manager that offers a wide range of driving profiles. The car’s performance, steering, sound and even simulated gear shifts can all be set, with the latter modelled on the original GTI, the MkII 16v and the 25th anniversary editions.

The car’s exterior has all the trademark features we’ve come to expect from a red-surrounded radiator grille, to inspired bumper, side skirts, roof spoiler, diffuser, and 20-inch alloy wheels. Meanwhile, inside the new ID. GTI goes back to its roots with a simple interior featuring checkered upholstery and the drive selector even apes the original golf ball style gear knob.

Power is a healthy 226 hp which means the ID. GTI should sprint to 62 mph in 6.9 seconds, while its range is claimed to be 273 miles when it goes on sale in 2027 priced from €30,000 ($33,000) in Europe.

You won’t have to wait nearly as long for the next electric Mini Cooper, which is set for sale in spring 2024. This fifth generation of the Mini may look like a minor evolution from the outside, but beneath the skin it’s a whole new car.

Now sitting on a purpose-designed EV platform, which will be built in China under a joint venture with parent BMW and Great Wall, the Mini Cooper will come with two powertrains. The entry-level E will get 184hp plus a 40.7 kWh battery that will see it to 62 mph in 7.3 seconds and on to a top speed of 99 mph, while delivering a range of 190 miles. The more potent SE version gets 218 hp from a 54.2 kWh pack, cuts the sprint to 62 mph down to 6.7 seconds and increased range to 250 miles (expect the EPA to rate it rather lower). Among seven drive modes are a Go Kart setting, which provides maximum performance, sharpened steering response and reduced intervention from the car’s traction control.

The Mini’s cabin is dominated by a huge circular central OLED screen, but there are a few reassuringly tactile switches as well, plus a voice assistant to take care of a variety of controls if you wish. The interior features recycled polyester materials, and Vescin synthetic leather for the sports seats.

The Mini Cooper E looks set to be priced on a par with the VW ID as well as coming close on performance. With the Abarth 500e already available and Alpine’s A290 coming along the new world of electric hatches is hotting up.

The post New Mini Cooper and VW ID. GTI set for electrifying hot hatch battle appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve written a lot about million-dollar metal from Monterey. Now it’s time to come back to earth and look at some cars that are only kind of expensive. What caught our eye this week is a rally homologation special that ticks many of the same boxes as the most expensive ’80s automobiles. Racing pedigree and low production? Check. Four-wheel drive? Check. Forced induction? Of course. Box flares? You bet.

It’s a Volkswagen Rallye Golf which, as the name suggests, was built to whip around the special stages of the World Rally Championship. It’s also one of the rarest versions of one of the world’s best-selling cars, and the ancestor of the more well-known Golf R32 and today’s Golf R. Yet it sold for $41,278 this week on Cars and Bids. Certainly not chump change, but still several grand less than a new Golf R, and less than you might think when you hear the words “homologation special.”

The second generation of the Volkswagen Golf debuted in 1983. VW’s characteristically cheeky advertisements boasted “If at first you succeed, try again,” and it was indeed a worthy follow-up to the wildly successful first-gen (1974–83) cars. Over its 10-year production run, the Mk II Golf would sell 6.3 million copies.

The hottest version that most people could buy when they walked into their V-dub dealer was the 16-valve GTI, which was a standout hot hatch despite stiff competition in the European market from the likes of the Peugeot 205 GTi. But, in a bid to take the Golf rallying in Group A (then the top class of the World Rally Championship), VW needed something hotter, and they needed to sell 5000 copies in order to homologate it for the 1990 season.

The Rallye Golf is what they came up with. On the outside, the obvious differences are the box flares, à la E30 BMW M3, plus a unique grille flanked by rectangular headlights, a special body kit, and badges. Underneath, the 1.8-liter engine has an eight-valve head but also a G-Lader supercharger. VW also shrank the engine slightly by 18cc (1763cc) to fit within the WRC’s rules, which featured a 1.7x multiplication factor for displacement on forced induction engines. The original 1781cc unit would have gone over the adjusted 3.0-liter limit in the rulebook.

The engine drove all four wheels via a five-speed gearbox and VW’s Syncro four-wheel drive setup, similar to the system in the Golf Syncro and Golf Country. Screwed together at the Volkswagen Motorsports facility in Belgium, the Rallye Golf weighed 200 pounds more than a regular GTI thanks to that Syncro system, but at 2635 pounds it wasn’t too beefy, and of course the supercharger delivered extra punch. But it wasn’t exactly a knockout: 160 horsepower and 165 lb-ft made it quick but not a tire-scorcher. The sprint to 60 still took over eight seconds.

It was also expensive, at 50,000 German marks, about twice as much as a GTI. A handful of Rallye Golfs were sent to the U.S. for evaluation, and supposedly Volkswagen of America’s vice-president James Fuller wanted to sell it here. Unfortunately, he was on Pan Am Flight 103 when it was blown up by Libyan terrorists in December 1988. The Rallye Golf didn’t make it to U.S. shores. Despite the price and the limited market, though, the Rallye Golf did sell a little over 5000 copies, all in left-hand-drive configuration.

It was expensive and not too fast on the road, and the Rallye Golf wasn’t exactly an ace on the rally stages, either. These were the days of the Lancia Delta Integrale and Toyota Celica GT-Four, so it’s not all that surprising that Volkswagen finished 10th in the 1990 WRC season with just 10 points. Lancia and Toyota each finished with over 130. The factory VW team pulled out of rallying after just one year, although a few private teams ran Rallye Golfs for a few more seasons. Then, the Rallye Golf disappeared into obscurity, although the Golf R32 of the 2000s and the Golf R of today can trace their roots right back to this late-’80s original. Growing interest for old rally-bred collector cars has helped bring the Rally Golf a little more back in the light, too.

The car sold this week wears the lovely color of Green Pearl Effect, and the Recaro front seats with patterned cloth inserts look pretty sweet. It wears a few aftermarket changes, including 16-inch BBS wheels, KW suspension, and a Supersprint exhaust. Showing 159,400 km (99,100 miles) but looking remarkably well cared for, it was only imported to the U.S. from Europe last year and already has a U.S. title, which is a good selling point.

This price isn’t a record for a Mk2 Golf (someone paid 91 grand for a 1992 GTI a few months back) but it is in line with what the few other Rallye Golfs have sold for in recent memory. And it seems like a decent value. Sure, 30 to 40 grand for an old Volkswagen hatchback that never won anything isn’t cheap, but rare homologation specials have a certain coolness factor, many more common ’80s performance cars sell for more, and other unsuccessful rally cars from the earlier Group B era routinely bring seven figures. Given all that, plus its connection to more modern VW performance cars, this special low-volume Golf was a good buy. Even if it wasn’t a hole-in-one back in the day.

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20 years ago this year—July 20, to be precise—Volkswagen’s factory in Puebla, Mexico, made the very last Beetle. While the O.G. vintage Bugs have a guaranteed place in the hearts of most car enthusiasts, let’s take a moment to examine the evolving legacy of the New Beetle. You may have seen this story on the Hagerty UK website last June; it’s reproduced here unchanged. —Ed. 

It’s probably fair to say the awkwardly named Volkswagen New Beetle, launched in 1997, was not an outstanding car, even if being based on the Mk4 Golf means it was never a bad one.

A proportion of you will balk at the idea of this Bug being a future classic, regardless of its objective capabilities. Revivals of much-loved names tend to get a short shrift with enthusiasts, particularly if they seem a bit cynical, with an uncomfortable whiff of cashing-in hanging in the air.

New Beetle was certainly that. It was absolutely targeted at those who fondly remembered the 1960s and 1970s. But it was far from the only attempt to leverage such nostalgia, so we can’t level this accusation at Volkswagen alone. The Rover Group for one, for whom the original Mini was still trudging on (and whose ’90s brochures went barely a paragraph without mentioning Carnaby Street, Twiggy, or miniskirts), and was preparing the P4-inspired 75 in the background.

The press meanwhile were convinced a “new 2CV” was on the way, and Chrysler was busy launching the PT Cruiser—pseudo-’40s or ’50s really, but very much bait for baby boomers. Remember that this was the era of the two-seat roadster revival kicked off by Mazda, a phenomenon which echoed the first roadster boom of the 1950s and 1960s.

The New Beetle fit right in. It was a bullseye for customers whose kids had flown the nest and could now settle down with the warm, fuzzy familiarity of a retro design, trading boring, Golf-style practicality for old-car styling without old-car quirks. And, with the 1960s heavy in contemporary pop culture (Britpop was a revival of the mop-haired bands of the ’60s, ravers were the new stoners, tie-dye was making a weird comeback) even younger buyers would “get it.”

The advertisements, designed by long-standing VW ad agency DDB, harped on the retro theme. “Less flower. More power” read one; “The engine’s in the front, but its heart’s in the same place,” ran another.

The first tagline was only half true, of course: famously, the New Beetle was, in a rather self-aware way, fitted with a small vase on the dashboard into which you could plonk a large, petalled motif of the late 1960s.

One thing you might have forgotten is that the car was actually very well received by the press. Most noted it was not the quickest vehicle, with its old-tech, 2-liter eight-valve from the Mk3 Golf. The available 1.9-liter TDI engine was in a relatively low state of tune, too (though some noted its gravely note was most similar to that of a classic Beetle’s flat-four).

Most reviewers could tell the New Beetle wasn’t set up as a handler. Many noted the appalling rear headroom from that sloping window, and a few had reservations over the plastic football field VW called a dashboard, which made the front corners of the car basically invisible and every attempt at parking a test of nerves.

That said, it’s not like the original Beetle was perfect. The New Beetle was still a tidy drive, particularly for those who still had memories of how badly a ropey original could get down the road. Reviewers loved the materials and details (this was peak “blue backlit dials” era for VW) and enjoyed the overwhelmingly positive reaction from bystanders even more. Jeremy Clarkson, of all people, even went as far as saying the first Turbo model in the U.K. would be his (though there’s no record of whether he kept that promise).

Age has now wearied the New Beetle just as it would have done 25-year old examples of the original back in 1997, and today the model hovers in that uncomfortable territory between cheap banger and emerging classic.

The original once suffered in that limbo, too. People knew it was iconic even at its lowest ebb, but just like Minis and other budget cars, the classic Beetle spent an awful long time as a disposable product, cheap, rotting away, and terrifying penny-pinching owners with handling quirks unique to its 1940s origins. The New Beetle at least kept you out of the hedges.

The important thing is that those that survived now have a following. And that, more than anything else, is why I think the New Beetle will be viewed with increasing fondness. It didn’t become the icon of a social movement like its ancestor, but take a look at how many younger buyers have adopted the model today and are modifying it just like its predecessor.

In the last few weeks alone I’ve seen a convertible custom-painted in a 1950s black and cream (complete with polished chrome hubcaps), and another that looked like it had escaped the set of Mad Max: Fury Road, with external fuel cans and grilles over the lights. Search online and you’ll find highly-modified Turbos, V5s on air ride, and even track-modified cars. Highly personalized, plentiful parts, a thriving community … any of this sound familiar?

In the end, it barely even matters that Volkswagen called it a Beetle (with or without the “New” prefix). The important bit is that owners loved them when new and bought the thing in droves. A quarter-century down the line, a new generation of owners is emerging ready to give the New Beetle a whole new lease of life.

Via Hagerty UK

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When I first saw Bill Rutan’s hill-climb special back in the late 1970s or early ’80s, at the Mount Equinox Hill Climb in Vermont, it was in its final form. On first impression, I thought it was an unusual-looking homemade thing with a VW Bug hood. But when I walked around to the back of the car, I realized that it had a four-cam Porsche engine, which made it a lot more interesting.

I introduced myself to Bill and soon found out that he was an experienced road racer and hill climber. Later I discovered that he was a two-time SCCA C-Class national champion and had logged hundreds of hill climbs, where he and his special proved tough to beat. His ultimate conquest with the homebuilt car he called the “Bathtub” was to set the fastest time of the day at the Mount Washington Hillclimb in 1961, beating a previous record set by a race-prepared Ferrari driven by one Carroll Shelby. The road was paved before the climb returned, which meant that Bill’s record of 9 minutes and 13 seconds on gravel still stands, although times on the paved surface are quite a bit faster.

He built several cars in addition to the Bathtub, but to me, that one took the cake, with its stark bodywork and its many hill-climb victories. He told me about its Beetle origins and that he started with a 1952 VW floorpan and a 1948 Beetle body. Although it was originally powered by a highly modified VW engine in the rear, by the time I saw it, the special had a mid-mounted four-cam Porsche engine from a burnt-out Speedster and a lot less bodywork than when it first rolled out of the shop.

I was really taken with the car, and over the years, I had talked to Bill about buying it—as had David Winstead, one of his neighbors in Centerbrook, Connecticut. When Bill finally decided it was time to sell the Bathtub, he approached Winstead, who jumped at the chance. Soon, the tired race car was stripped down for restoration, during which the floorpan was straightened, and new aluminum panels were fabricated. Although the completed car was pretty much ready for competition, the owner decided not to race it.

Once the car was finished, Winstead asked me to help market it. To give it exposure, I took it out to the Hershey Hill Climb and ran up the hill three times. It was a hoot to drive—I loved the mechanical sounds coming out of the engine and the way the car squatted down under hard acceleration. Even on the aged tires that Bill had used to set the record at Mount Washington 62 years earlier, it held the fastest time of the day until the closing minutes of the hill climb, when a friend’s Lotus Super Seven beat my time by 2/10ths of a second.

Following the hill climb, we shipped it, in 2012, to Mecum’s sale in Monterey, California. With Winstead on hand, I drove it onto the stage, yet bidding ran out of steam before it reached the reserve. I asked Winstead how much he would take, and I made an offer that he accepted. While I was still at the auction, I fielded offers from several interested people, but all they wanted was the engine. As long as I own it, the engine will stay with the car.

Once the car was mine, I took it back to the Hershey Hill Climb. Figuring that the ancient racing tires had cost me those 2/10ths, I mounted some sticky Hoosiers and trundled up to the start of the climb. When I was waved off and let out the clutch, those tires stuck so well that several gears in the transmission shattered, leaving me right where I started.

Back in Connecticut, I called Bill. He came up and said, “If you take the transmission out, I’ll repair it.” He grilled me on how I’d actually broken the gears. Looking at the tires, he said, “You put these tires on? There was nothing wrong with those old tires; you just don’t know how to drive.” With that, he went home, made a new set of gears, and the car was once again race-ready.

Bill passed away in April 2018. I wanted to have the car at his funeral, but I didn’t have it ready in time. Although I’m sorry that the old character is gone, I’m happy to have his car as an important piece of automotive racing history. Thanks, Bill.

***

This article first appeared in Hagerty Drivers Club magazine. Click here to subscribe and join the club.

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One of only 25 Brubaker Boxes—essentially kit cars built on Volkswagen Beetle chassis—recently sold on eBay for an astounding $68,900 (plus taxes and fees), but Hagerty Price Guide publisher Dave Kinney isn’t surprised at how much money the fully restored example brought. He owned one himself, in the 1970s.

“I think the good news for somebody is if [Brubaker Boxes are] selling for sixty-eight nine, then you should go make some molds, get some old VW chassis, and you’re in business,” Kinney jokes. “Seriously, that’s a lot of money, but good luck finding another one. They just aren’t out there.”

Kinney understands the draw of the Bug-based Box, which he says is arguably the first minivan. “It was a big sensation because it was on the cover of Car and Driver [in March 1972],” he says. “It was a completely new concept, and it made a big splash. People would stop and stare at it. It was really, really, really mind-boggling.”

The Box was the invention of California inventor Curtis Brubaker, who studied car styling at Pasadena’s Art Center College of Design and worked for Lear Jet and General Motors before setting up his own design studio in Los Angeles. He created dozens of innovations over the years, including the 8-track tape player while working with Bill Lear. Brubaker envisioned the Box as a tool for surfers to get their boards, gear, and friends to the beach.

As Brubaker explained to the Galpin Auto Sports team on Discovery UK’s G.A.S. Extreme Customs in 2020, it all started with the theft of his brother’s VW van. “I was thinking, ‘Why is this guy stealing a used Volkswagen?’ And we got to thinking about all the surfer kids driving these things. We took a trip down to Newport Beach; I took one picture where there were like seven or eight of ’em on one tiny street, and I said, ‘There’s a market here … something that appeals more to the kids.’”

Brubaker debuted the prototype Baha Box at the 1972 Los Angeles International Motorsports Show and gained enough funding to start production, but Volkswagen refused to sell him any chassis. That meant he’d have to buy new Beetles and remove the bodies, which proved too costly and time consuming. Three concept vehicles were built before Brubaker sold the design to Mike Hansen’s Automecca of Chatsworth, California. Most sources agree that Automecca, which offered the vehicle as the Sports Van, built 25 in total, including the one that just sold on eBay.

The innovative one-box van—fashioned with 13 fiberglass panels mounted on a stiff tube frame and attached to the Type 1 chassis—features sloping front and back glass, a removable roof, and a single sliding door on the passenger side. To keep costs down, the windshield was borrowed from an AMC Hornet and the rear glass came from a Chevrolet El Camino. Although there is debate about whether the bumpers were made of wood or a composite material, Kinney says they were wood: “Two slabs of wood, front and back.”

In addition to the VW’s driver and passenger seats, the rear seating was “essentially a tan, vinyl-covered couch,” Kinney says. The love seat could be removed to add cargo space.

The Brubaker Box stood only 53 inches tall, which made it an adventure to get in and out of. “You had to step into it from the side and walk to the drivers’ seat while stooping over.”

Kinney bought a brown metallic Brubaker Box/Automecca Sports Van in 1977 after hearing about it from a friend who owned an auto dealership near Fort Lauderdale. He traveled to Florida from Virginia to check it out. “I remembered it from when it was on the cover of Car and Driver,” Kinney says. “I bought it without really knowing any of its (individual) history, as you did back then. I think I paid $3000 for it and sold it 18 months later for $4000.

“I drove it for at least a year—used it as a daily driver in the summer, and boy, was it hot in there. The driver- and passenger-side windows slid back, and it was hard to see out the back and the sides. It wasn’t the most practical car; it was a totally enclosed dune buggy. It had a VW semi-automatic transmission, which never worked properly. If I’d kept it, I would have swapped that out.”

With that said, “It was really fun, and pretty well-made in that I never had a problem with anything falling off. It was a good-looking little truck. I wish I knew what happened to mine. I hope it’s still out there somewhere.”

Last week, when we wrote about the Jungle Green Metallic 1971 Bug-based Brubaker Box/Automecca Sports Van offered on eBay, readers wondered where the surf boards were intended to reside, inside or outside, since the roof was removable and there was no rack. Kinney says it was an easily solved problem.

“You’d just buy a universal roof rack from the Sears catalog and strap the boards on top,” he says, then adds, “Don’t ask about my surfing skills, because they’re non-existent.”

While Kinney jokes that the nearly $70K paid for the Box/Sports Van on eBay should motivate someone to start building them again, California entrepreneurs Tomo Bullum and Dale Davis are way ahead of him. Four years ago, Bullum and Davis announced plans to launch a vehicle inspired by the Brubaker Box, but they have not yet responded to inquiries through their website.

If their plan comes to fruition, would Kinney consider buying one?

“Nah, I’ve been there, done that,” he says. “They’re great to own, but they aren’t great to drive.”

One lucky bidder is about to find out.

***

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Front and center in any good car project is the list of parts necessary to complete the job. I’m presently at the shallow end of returning my 2002 Porsche 911 Carrera back to (mostly) stock, and recently had my trusted shop price out a few components before diving in. One of my car’s key needs is an exhaust system, so I asked the shop to price a brand-new, OEM heads-to-tailpipe replacement as it would have left the factory.

I was quoted $17,273.32, including tax.

Ouch. According to the Hagerty Valuation tool, the cost of parts alone would be 64 percent of the projected value of the entire car. Based on inventory found on reputable online sellers of OEM Porsche components, a full replacement exhaust for a far newer and far more valuable 991.2 (2016–19) Carrera settles somewhere around the $9000 mark.

Shocked? You betcha. But I shouldn’t have been, considering I was duly warned over a year ago by a foremost marque expert that parts for my car—and all older cars, for that matter—are going to rapidly become significantly more scarce and expensive.

I visited Jake Raby’s Flat-Six Innovations (FSI) facility back in the early spring of 2022. As a 996 owner, this former pig farm in the hills of rural Georgia is sanctum sanctorum; Raby and his outfit build the best M96/M97-family engines on the planet, turning engines long seen as unpleasant, problem-prone paperweights into over-engineered reactor cores that match Porsche’s own Mezger for meat.

Toward the end of the day-long tour, he took me into a repurposed shipping container that held one of his on-site parts archives. This veritable treasure trove of OEM-grade Porsche parts would shame any official service center. Sandwiched between shelves of coil packs, manifolds, and various flat-six detritus, he told me he maintained this archive to battle a wide-reaching parts shortage that was hitting 996s and 997s, hard.

I left with a hot coal in my gut.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, when a conversation with Jonathan Hodgman of Atlanta’s Blue Ridge Mercedes echoed Raby’s earlier sentiment to an eerie degree. Hodgman’s one of the top resources in the States for pre-merger AMGs and related models, specialty hand-built cars that have always required clever fixes or fabrications for bespoke parts that simply didn’t exist. But as Hodgman tells it, he’s struggling to source OEM-grade “essential” componentry, and it’s become a serious problem. “I used to spend 20 minutes of my time ordering parts. Now, I spend half my time ordering parts,” he sighed. “It’s become a real chore.”

So, along with Hodgman, I checked in with Raby a year and change after my visit to see what is happening, where we are heading, and what can be done. “From the root to the top of the tree, it’s dying,” he tells me in a video call. “There are too many factors that are going to take it all away.”

We’ll start with the “what.” As both Raby and Hodgman tell it, the basic supply of new OEM-quality replacement parts—that is, parts manufactured by either the original equipment manufacturer or to the same quality—has all but dried up. If there are aftermarket or non-OE supplied parts available, they’re of sub-par quality and often fail right out of the box.

“Radiators, hoses, basic stuff started to be a struggle ten years ago or so,” explains Hodgman. “Then the pandemic happened alongside the push for electrification, and that has had a staggering effect on parts availability. Ten years ago, it wasn’t really a problem, it was just annoying. But, as the years have gone on, it’s only gotten harder and harder and harder.”

“It’s 356, it’s 914, it’s Volkswagens, it’s the more modern Porsches—it’s everything,” says Raby. “Inflation has helped with parts supply for 996 and 997s because it’s taken some of the demand away—that’s good. The parts supply is there, but now we have is the quality of the parts.”

He tells me of troublesome oil-air separators and water pumps, finding that more than a few are duds right out of the box. As a result, he’s been forced to build a specialized test rig in the shop to test the oil-air separators before installation. “If it was built during or post-COVID, it has a question mark on it, quality-wise,” Raby says, frustratedly. “Now, we go by date-codes.”

Ah, there it is—the great “Everything Shortage” of 2020 and onward. Peak pandemic supply struggles saw acres of brand-new vehicles parked en masse mid-assembly, awaiting parts. As automakers scrambled to fill in-market parts supply, many production lines for old parts were pivoted in the name of profits. “Suppliers are turning off these mildly profitable lines and retooling them for newer cars for which there are mass shortages as well,” says Hodgman. “I get that it’s simply supply and demand, but that doesn’t help me any.”

So, as the OE supply dwindles, lower-tier suppliers fill the vacuum with sub-standard replacements—or nothing at all. According to both Raby and Hodgman, stock of legacy electronic modules for mass-produced are essentially non-existent. “You need an E-GAS module for your [Mercedes-Benz] 500E—a part that it essentially needs to run? Good luck—I bought the last seven Mercedes had in stock, and they’re never going to replenish them ever again,” says Hodgman, laughing ruefully. “I’m going from recommending certain cars to not, simply because the parts supply is such a dreadful ordeal, and there’s no ready workaround.”

I push Hodgman on what the limits are of this scarcity, asking him what would happen if a wealthy owner brought his 500 E in for a module fix. “Well, I’ll say that we have two options. Either we sit and wait patiently for a good used one—hopefully—cause no one is remanufacturing,” he explains.  “Or, you unfortunately have to re-engineer the car, and that’s an expensive proposition. You’re taking what was a $1000 module problem and turning it into a $30,000-$40,000 re-engineer problem.”

I’m sure owners of most pre-war and low-volume cars are nodding in affirmation by now. Parts supply for some early cars is non-existent to the point where everything is custom fabricated or re-machined. For many cars, it’s been this way for well over half a century, and in most cases this means metal and shop work and is mostly a matter of money and time. The same cannot be said for those irreplicable electric components.

Ok—at this point, you’d think there’d be enough moneyed enthusiasts sick of crappy parts and long layovers at the shop that someone would step in to re-introduce quality components. And people have, to a degree; Raby tells me Flat-Six Innovations is building more exhaust components, coil packs, and modified water pumps in-house. “In some cases, we’re taking older parts and fitting new bearings in and building it ourselves,” he explains. “We’re building a better part.”

Problem at least partially solved, it seems. But this perceived gold rush—driven primarily by the extreme appreciation in the collector car market—has spawned a legion of new shops who, according to Raby, don’t know what they don’t know. “They just buy all these parts and think it’s ok,” says Raby. “They don’t know any better. They could have the best intentions in the world, they could want to sell a great engine, but don’t know it’s filled with junk.”

“People come to me with broken cars, telling me ‘I’ve replaced this, I’ve replaced that,’ and in their mind, those replaced parts are no longer a factor in the problem. A guy like me questions the new part first,” he continues. “There are some instances of cars going to shops, and leaving worse off than when they first went there.”

I reached out to Hagerty senior editor and noted 1970s–2000s Ford expert Sajeev Mehta for a more domestic perspective on the Teutonic shortage. “The thing to remember with mainstream [domestic] brands with huge dealer networks is that their parts supply decreases far less rapidly than the cars themselves get scrapped,” he explained in an email. “I can pretty much rebuild a 1986 Ford Taurus under the hood with parts from eBay and Rockauto because they made the parts by the hundreds of thousands and very few cars still exist to utilize them.

“Dealer networks from Porsche, Honda, VW, Toyota, et cetera weren’t nearly as large as the big three back in the 1980s and 1990s, so their parts supply dried up a lot quicker, which exacerbated the problem during the pandemic,” he continued. “The problems you are noticing are real, and that’s why I smile at my euro-centric car friends and wish them the best.”

I ran this by Raby. “I can get any part I want for my old Bronco with absolute ease,” he laughed. “What you also need to keep in mind is much of what the Big Three built also shared a ton of parts across many models. Porsche? Not so much.”

Where do we go from here? Is there a tipping point?

Hodgman is somewhat optimistic, particularly on emerging tech like metal 3D printing. “I hope as technologies become more accepted and advanced, the price will come down and these niche items will be easier to find,” he reflects. “I hope we’re in this middle lull where the emerging technologies can’t quite meet the demand we’re having now—but hopefully in ten years, that will come around and start to flip.”

“Unless people really step it up, it’s going to become quite a nightmare and chore,” he continues. “At the same time, it’s going to take a lot of mid-grade cars off the road as parts cars. I see that happening now.  Cars that are a little tired, a little worn. But, they have a bunch of stuff you can’t get anymore, and it’s worth more in parts than as a car.” Hodgman tells me has four “rough” 500Es as parts cars, and I cry foul at the idea of decommissioning such a special car. But, without this sacrifice, a lot more 500Es would be off the road.

I ask Raby what we as enthusiasts can do to potentially turn the tide in our favor. “We need to hold manufacturers, shops, and automakers to a higher standard,” he explains. “Be a better consumer through education. It’s up to the hands, minds, and wallets of the [car] owners. If you keep buying the junk, the bar will never be raised.”

In the meantime, I think this has the very real potential to push a portion of enthusiasts who were not considering electric conversion over to the sparky side. When faced with the choice between pickling a prized car for want of unobtanium componentry or installing one of the (nearly) drop-in EV conversion kits becoming increasingly available, more might take the plug-in path than previously expected.

Hodgman rejects this false dichotomy. In true early-AMG fashion, he’s swapping a 6.2-liter M156 (think C63, E63 AMG) into a 500E donor car hooked up to a BMW-sourced six-speed manual. “It’s so, so much easier to get parts [for the M156], and it keeps the true spirit of the car intact,” he says, sounding excited. I ask him when he thinks it’ll be ready. “I’d get it done a whole lot faster if I had another set of capable hands on my staff.”

Hear that? That’s the sound of another can of worms being cracked open.

***

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The Volkswagen Beetle has long been the chassis of choice for numerous car kits and factory-produced models. You definitely know the iconic Meyers Manx dune buggy, the Bradley GT, and perhaps even the MiniHome motorhome. Keep driving down that long and winding VW road, and you’ll eventually discover the Brubaker Box.

The 1970s Bug–based “minivan” is cool, weird, practical, jaw-dropping, and rare. So when one surfaced on eBay this week, bidding quickly soared past $50,000, days before the end of the auction, which is set for Saturday, July 1 at 5 p.m. Eastern.

The bidding frenzy is noteworthy, especially because the subject of all the attention isn’t even one of the original three Brubaker Boxes; it’s one of 25 Automecca-built bodies that were offered after the original makers went bankrupt.

The story began with Californian Curtis Brubaker, who studied car styling at Pasadena’s Art Center College of Design and worked for Lear Jet and General Motors before setting up his own studio in Los Angeles. Brubaker liked the Meyers Manx, but he imagined an even better tool for surfers to get their boards, gear, and friends to the beach.

Starting with a Volkswagen Type 1 chassis and working with fellow designers Todd Gerstenberger and Harry Wykes, Brubaker penned an innovative, “one-box” van with sloping front and back glass, a removable roof, and a single sliding door on the passenger side. Why only one? The fewer doors, the more rigid the fiberglass body, which was fashioned with 13 panels mounted on a tube frame and attached to the VW floorpan. To limit overhead costs, the windshield was borrowed from an AMC Hornet, the rear glass came from a Chevrolet El Camino, and the bumpers were made of wood or a composite material made to look like wood (opinions vary).

In addition to the driver and passenger seats up front, the rear featured a stylish love seat that could be removed to add cargo space. It’s difficult to imagine a minivan this, well, mini, but the unusual-looking vehicle stood only 53 inches tall.

Car and Driver featured the Brubaker Box on the cover of its March 1972 issue, and it was so well received at the 1972 Los Angeles International Motorsports Show that Brubaker was able to score $160,000 in funding. Flush with what amounts to nearly $1.2 million today, Brubaker obtained a 17,000-square-foot space for production. He estimated that his team could build five Boxes per month at $3995 apiece ($29K). In time, he hoped to increase that number to 400 per month.

The problem, as it turned out, was that Volkswagen wasn’t impressed with the idea. The German automaker declined to sell Brubaker any Type 1 chassis, which meant he would be forced to buy new (or used) Beetles and remove the bodies. When that process proved too costly, Brubaker eventually filed for bankruptcy. With Plan A dead, he eventually sold the design to Mike Hansen’s Automecca of Chatsworth, California. Most sources agree that Automecca, which offered the vehicle as the Sports Van, built 25 in total, including this one.

The seller, oldbug.com, explains that the 1971 Brubaker Box/Automecca Sports Van (VIN 1102392016) was “discovered as a bare, sun-cooked body in the high desert of California” and underwent a year-long, full restoration. It has been painted “in its original Jungle Green Metallic with period-correct long, green shag carpet, and the interior is true to the original design and pattern in a brown vinyl.”

The Box features a chrome bare-foot gas pedal, period Kraco 8-track player, period accessory wood shift knob and controls, and “exceedingly rare” original early ’70s Empi logo instrumentation and Empi sport steering wheel with padded center. 

“This is the ONLY example known to have the optional in-dash ice chest/storage box that was offered in the original sales prospect and order form,” the seller writes. “The wheels are period correct U.S. Indy four-lug slot mags, cleanly polished with chrome lugs and period key locks, with BFGoodrich raised white-letter tires on all four corners.

“The textured roof and end panels are done in the correct-style grain, and the controversial original fiberglass ‘faux wood’ bumpers are fitted front and rear. New Old Stock 1970s Sears and Roebuck driving lights were sourced and fitted up front. New windshield and rear window glass (AMC Hornet and El Camino, respectively, as the original).”

Mechanically, the car is powered by a new—as opposed to rebuilt—1.6-liter dual-port engine with a new AS-41 engine case, all new internals and externals, mated to a four-speed manual transmission. The vehicle has 12 volt electrics with alternator, mechanical advance distributor, single barrel carb with electric choke, and mechanical fuel pump. The exhaust system is a period-original header set up with two tips “that exit perfectly just below the bumper.” 

The chassis is from a 1971 Beetle and has IRS rear suspension, ball joint front beam, and stock drum brakes all around with new CV boots and shocks. The Brubaker Box/Automecca Sports Van has been driven fewer than 100 miles since the restoration was complete.

A collection of original documentation and literature from Brubaker and Automecca is included in the sale, but the personalized California “BUGNBOX” plates are not. Of course, if you’re in it for the plates, you’re missing the point.

“It is simply crazy to drive,” the seller writes. “From the single side door, to the driving position, the short shifter, the side-mounted switches, sliding side windows, the view across that immense dash and out the front windows, and, of course, the big wrap-around swanky love seat couch seating in the back … it is an experience like no other car in the world to go for a spin around the block in this.”

It’s also an opportunity that doesn’t come around often.

***

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When discussing the ascendant ’90s-era collector-car market, you’d be forgiven for thinking primarily about Japanese vehicles. It’s hard to escape spectacular Nissan Skyline and Toyota Supra sales, let alone this year’s dramatic Acura Integra Type R auction record. However, when we saw a 15,000-mile 1993 Volkswagen Corrado SLC sell for $53,550 on Bring a Trailer, it served as a good reminder that Japan doesn’t have the market cornered.

The Corrado’s potential as a future collector car wasn’t a sure thing at the start. As the stablemate of and eventual replacement for the popular Scirocco, the Corrado didn’t start off on the right foot. Improvements over the Scirocco drove costs through the roof, and performance from 1988’s top-line G60 supercharged 1.8-liter engine was anemic. Then came the introduction of the VR6 engine in 1992.

The 2.8-liter six-cylinder’s narrow, 15-degree V layout squeezed 178 horses into the tight confines of the Corrado’s engine bay, dramatically waking up straight-line performance. VW used suspension and other components from the Mk III Golf to help integrate the engine into the Corrado, and the body grew a more aggressive hood and fender flares.

The change in powerplant led to critical success, but the problem of price remained. A VR6-equipped Corrado SLC carried a base price of $22,540 in 1993—almost $49,000 today. The Ford Probe GT that beat the Corrado SLC on its way to winning Car & Driver’s December 1992 sport coupe comparison test cost a comparatively paltry $15,504, just over $33K in today’s dollars. Whether the Corrado cost too much for the segment, too much for a VW, or both, the VR6 couldn’t save Volkswagen’s sports coupe. Corrado production ceased after 1995.

The redeeming traits of the VR6-equipped Corrado SLC and its slow sales relative to the competition have paid dividends for it in today’s market. Hagerty Price Guide’s #1 condition (Concours) value for a 1993 Corrado SLC is $57,300, just a touch north of where this BaT sale landed. Compare that to a $31,400 #1-condition value for a 1997 Honda Prelude SH, or $33,100 for a similar-quality 1993 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX. The Corrado isn’t likely to cross into legend status like the Integra Type R, but it clearly has built a strong case for itself against most of its Japanese sports-coupe competition.

This particular example benefitted from a few factors. At 15,000 miles and in pristine shape, it may be one of the cleanest Corrado SLCs in the country. Mild modifications don’t tend to hurt cars in this segment, and the Borla exhaust on this example will only serve to highlight the VR6’s growl. The photographic presentation—a hallmark of Bring a Trailer seller 911r—exhaustively portrayed every detail of the car and gave the Corrado the glamor a car in this condition deserves. Finally, the right person was in the room: According to comments, the buyer is Dave Schouster, owner of Eastside Motorsport, a VW shop that’s been steeped in VR6 work for decades.

$53,550 might sound like a lot for a Corrado—many people thought the same thing when it was new, too, but die-hard fans are still enthusiastically plunking down cash on their favorites. The battle for superiority in the ’90s sports coupe segment lives on, decades later.

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The Vee Dub, the Westie, the Splittie, and the Bay. An entire vocabulary has evolved around one of the most famous vehicles on the planet: the Volkswagen Type 2. Even its common name varies, depending on where you live. In its homeland of Germany, it’s the Bulli. Elsewhere, it’s the Bus, the Kombi, or the Transporter.

The origin story of this vehicle-of-many-faces is now part of automotive folklore. Dutchman Ben Pon visited the Volkswagen factory in 1946, keen to import a batch of VW’s Type 1 (now known as the Beetle pretty much everywhere). There, he saw a flatbed work vehicle based on the compact car’s chassis, and he sketched an idea for a utility vehicle. In a postwar market desperate for rugged, cheap commercial vehicles whose basic design could be easily adapted into a cargo truck, a minibus, an ambulance, and more, the Type 2 took off.

But for many, the identity most associated with the Type 2 is that of the camper. In 1950, with the Western economies starting on their long road to postwar recovery, and with families demanding cheap ways to fill leisure time, Volkswagen commissioned the Westfalia-Werke coachbuilding company to create a camper-van conversion. The first examples were delivered in 1951, and, although the base model has changed a number of times since, they are still being produced today.

For such a tiny vehicle, Westfalia managed to pack in a huge amount of utility. Fold-down double beds, a hammock over the front seats, diesel-powered night heaters, and sink units were all offered, but it was the famous “pop top” that instantly marked a camper from the lowly panel vans. This not only provided headroom when the vehicle was parked, but with the addition of a folding bed (that today resembles a medieval torture device) it offered another berth. Soon, other conversion companies put their own take on the camper van, with concertina and side-hinged roofs, gas cookers, and electric hookups.

Today, the VW camper vans remain hugely popular, especially with families. Analysis of Hagerty’s quotes show that all variants of the classic Type 2 are a hit with Generation X, those born between 1965 and 1980, with a huge percent of quotes (52) for the Split-Screen Bus coming from this demographic, compared with a 32 percent average across all Hagerty-insured vehicles. Overall, around 70 percent of quotes for all Type 2s are from people born since 1965, one of the youngest ownership demographics of all cars Hagerty covers worldwide.

Values are rising, too. The average insured value of the Type 2, across all generations, has climbed 32.6 percent over the last five years, and quoted values have soared in the last 12 months.

A quick look at #3 condition (that is to say good, driver-condition) Type 2s in the Hagerty Price Guide shows that the 1980–2002 T25 generation is still quite affordable, while the second-generation, 1968–79 Bay Window models can be had in the mid-$20,000 range. First-generation Split-Screens have taken off and are now pushing $50,000.

So, why does the Type 2 have such an enduring legacy? There’s certainly a coolness factor involved, but it’s combined with a big helping of practicality and economics. This van is one of the very few classic vehicles that is still regularly carrying out the role for which it was designed, decades after it was built.

A Type 2 is also a fantastic family classic, which may explain why Gen X, those most likely to have pre-teen/teenage kids, feature so heavily in our ownership statistics. These VWs remain a very affordable way to have a classic vehicle and take your family on vacation in the summer months. As such, they tend to retain or increase their value.

But at the end of the day, it’s the enduring ethos of VW’s Type 2 that makes them so phenomenally popular. Drive a VW Bus, with its big steering wheel in front of you and its air-cooled engine puttering along behind, and you can’t help but smile. Owning a Vee Dub is like an anti-status symbol; it says that you have relaxed, that you’ve put the demands of the corporate world behind you, even if you have to head back to the screen on Monday. Plus, as our demographics show, this is one of the rare vehicles where that sense of cool seems to endure through the generations and, if anything, is actually increasing.

I’ll put money on the table that in 50 years, there will still be Split-Screen Buses pootling along our roads, whether powered by flat-four engines, hydrogen cells, or flux capacitors. And people will still want them.

***

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Via Hagerty UK

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Call it cool, call it retro, call it Bussy McBussface, just don’t call it the new Microbus.

Fine, call it the new Microbus if you really want to. Volkswagen certainly would like that. At the reveal of the new electric VW ID. Buzz in seaside Huntington Beach, California, the company laid on the nostalgia as thick as fresh Kartoffelsalat. A DJ calling himself “Radio Woodstock” laid down one purple-haze track after another while flower-power hippy types mingled among more than 280 examples of T1-T5 Microbuses, Vanagons, Eurovans, Kombis, Crew-cabs, and pop-top Westfalias driven in by local collectors. VW execs even proclaimed June 2 to be International Volkswagen Bus Day.

The original 1949 to 1967 (in America) T1 and T2s are beloved nostalgia icons that are today highly collectible. A 1964 model parked at the ID. Buzz launch had a for sale sign on it and an asking price of $64,000. It was pointed out at the Buzz event that the Microbus has been at the epicenter of American culture and history since it was launched. It helped spawn the surf craze, Nike founder Phil Knight sold his first sneakers out of the back of one, and Steve Jobs sold his Microbus to get the money to start Apple Computer.

But the ID. Buzz, due in showrooms next year with an expected price of around $60,000, ain’t exactly a Microbus. For one thing, Volkswagen’s designers specifically backed away from making their new electric van too retro. “We came up with tons of sketches. A lot of sketches,” said lead exterior designer Einar Castillo Aranda, a native of Mexico City whose previous work was on the VW Polo subcompact.

“Round eyes. Square eyes. In the end we decided to go with a kind of integration of the headlights with the side lines. You don’t really want to go full retro. It only fits for a few cars, and we didn’t want to go that route. We’d like to push it a bit more forward.”

Another reason the ID. Buzz is not the new Microbus? It’s not micro. The U.S. will only get the XL-size version, with three seat rows and a 192.4-inch overall length. At roughly 16 feet it’s about the length of the VW Atlas SUV, which I don’t think anyone would call “micro.” Europe has the option for a shorter, two-row version.

Granted, 16 feet doesn’t seem so long when you realize the original Type 1 and 2s were 14 feet and change. And a 2023 Toyota Sienna, at roughly 204 inches, dwarfs the new Volkswagen. So if the ID. Buzz is not the new Microbus, let’s call it the new Mediumbus.

The ID. Buzz will debut with an upsized 91-kWh battery (the shorter Euro version gets an 82-kWh pack) that should be good for at least 280 miles depending on the configuration. A 282-hp rear-drive base model will slot under a two-motor, 335-hp all-wheel-drive version. Options include a two-tone paint job like the original Microbus, a bevy of bright exterior colors, three interior color options, and an electrically dimming panoramic sunroof that is five and a half feet long.

One downside to electrification: a relatively high floor inside and no fold-into-the-floor seating, as in other minivans, due to the battery pack being in the way. However, VW promises there will be a camper version for the U.S. along the lines of the California model sold for years in Europe (but not, ironically in California, or any other U.S. state).

It’s been over 30 years since VW dumped the flat-faced shape of the bus, the last one being the T3, known in the U.S. as the Vanagon and dubbed the “waterbox” for the water-cooled flat-four installed in later versions. Its replacement, the T4 of 1990, moved the engine to the front, mounted within a pronounced schnoz, while the driver shifted behind the front axle for better crash protection. Subsequent generations of Volkswagen vans have all sported Romanesque noses.

One thing Aranda and his colleagues are very pleased about is being able to move the ID. Buzz’s overall shape closer to that of the original monolithic box. That’s because of the switch to electric, which removes the engine front the front and all the necessary structure required to keep its bulk out of the passenger compartment in a frontal crash.

“Before with an ordinary combustion engine, it was impossible, you always ended up with a bonnet (hood) on the front, which was not anymore this [original] shape,” said Aranda. “Now with this new platform, we’ve been able to put the wheels to the corners to reduce the front overhangs, and move the driver forward in the cabin to produce the bus shape again. We are able to return to the true shape of the car.”

Shape, perhaps. Size, not so much.

***

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In what may be the longest journey yet from auto-show concept vehicle to actual production, the Volkswagen ID. Buzz is scheduled to arrive in 2024.

Finally. That journey began in January of 2001 with the debut of the Volkswagen Microbus concept at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, then resurfaced years later with the debut of the undeniably familiar VW ID. Buzz at the Detroit show. Three years after the two-row Buzz went on sale in Europe, the United States will be getting our own three-row version of the minivan . . . sometime next year.

It all began when VW was riding high on the revival of the New Beetle in 1998. Might a little nostalgia work in the minivan world? The bread loaf–shaped Microbus wasn’t at all that Micro, what with three rows of seats, and it didn’t look much like the original hippie-beloved Microbus, but was still one of the stars of the Detroit show in 2001. VW even passed out cards, attached to lanyards, that read, “I’ve seen the bus!”

Showgoers thought they’d see the Microbus again in 2005 or so, after VW announced in 2002 that it was probably headed for production. But Volkswagen chickened out, and instead badged a version of Chrysler’s minivan as the Volkswagen Routan. And that was that.

Until January of 2017, anyway, when—16 years, almost to the day, since the debut of the VW Microbus concept—the Volkswagen ID. Buzz showed up on the Detroit show floor, looking quite a bit like it does now. Still three rows, but this time fully electric. The production version premiered this week at a press event in—where else?—Southern California.

It’s come a long way from 2017, an even longer distance from 2001.

So what are we getting in 2024, then? “Retro design cues, like the oversized VW logo, short overhangs, and available two-tone color palette,” all of which match that 2001 prototype, “meet a tailored interior, cutting-edge EV technology, and advanced driver assistance features, clearly marking it as a vehicle of the future,” VW says.

“The zero-direct emission ID. Buzz is the spiritual reincarnation of the Microbus, reimagined for our electric future,” said Pablo Di Si, president and CEO of Volkswagen of America. “It is practical, sustainable, and packaged in an unmistakably fun way that is classic Volkswagen. With its launch, the Bus will once again become our brand hero in America.”

Just as with the original Bus, the three-row ID. Buzz has a rear-mounted powerplant as standard. That rear motor produces 282 horsepower, in comparison to the two-row European-spec model, which debuted with 201. The battery is also larger, at 91 rather than 82 kWh. The skateboard design, with the battery mounted in the floor, saves space and contributes to better handling by locating a large percentage of the vehicle’s weight down low.

All-wheel drive is available for the ID. Buzz at launch, in a configuration boasting about 330 hp from the dual motors. Top speed is electronically limited to 99 mph.

Outside, the ID. Buzz retains its traditionally boxy shape with those short overhangs, “giving it maximum utility on a minimal footprint.” It is 192.4 inches in length, nearly 10 inches longer than the two-row Buzz; all that additional length comes from a 127.5-inch wheelbase, versus 117.6 inches for the two-row. It is 77.9 inches wide and 74.6 inches tall, making it roughly as wide as the VW Atlas, but five inches taller. “Given that the original Bus was about as long as a 2019 Beetle and slightly narrower, this is a sizable increase,” VW notes. The coefficient of drag is just 0.29, good for a minivan.

“Retro cues throughout are a throwback to the original Bus, while reinterpreting the design for the future.” The iconic oversized VW logo is illuminated, with a light line that extends to either side, connecting to the LED headlights. “Bold exterior colors, with an available two-tone color palette, include many found on the two-row ID. Buzz such as Energetic Orange, Pomelo Yellow and Mahi Green, for example. Others, such as Cabana Blue, Metro Silver, and Indium Grey, are all-new.”

Dual power-sliding rear doors with “Easy Open and Close” provide good access to the third row and are replete with a modern take on the classic sliding windows—also fully powered. The bus also features standard power-folding and heated side mirrors, plus a standard power tailgate.

On the D-pillar, air “vents” recall the original Bus’s rear-engine cooling slots. Wheels are aerodynamically optimized 20-inchers.

Inside, “attention has been paid to every detail—from the retro-inspired wood-optic dash to the whimsical ‘Play and Pause’ pedals from the 2016 Buzz concept.”

The removable center console includes flexible storage on top, with two unique dividers that double as a bottle opener and ice scraper, as well as two additional compartments below. Ambient lighting with 30 colors is standard, and allows drivers to select from five preset moods, or choose to differentiate areas individually. The greenhouse can be further enhanced by an available panoramic glass sunroof with electrochromic tinting, which changes from clear to opaque with the swipe of a finger.

In addition to perforated leatherette seating, all Buzz models are equipped with standard 12-way power driver and passenger seats with dual armrests, ventilation, massage, and memory functions; front seats and outboard second-row seats are heated.

Seating for seven is standard, and captain’s chairs are available with seating for six. The second and third rows fold flat, and the third row can be removed entirely. An available Flexboard, with two fabric storage bins, creates a flat floor with the seats folded.

The available Harman Kardon premium audio system has 14 speakers; nine speakers are standard.

In the cockpit, drivers are presented with two screens: A 5.3-inch one sits behind the steering wheel, next to the 12.9-inch central infotainment display. The Buzz makes it easy to connect devices with standard wireless App-Connect and wireless charging. Passengers had better stock up on their USB-C charging cables, because the Buzz has only the one kind—and eight of them. A 110-volt outlet is under the passenger seat, and 12-volt charging sits in the cargo area.

The Buzz also comes with the ID. Light system—a light strip that runs below the windshield and provides the driver with “intuitive support.” It uses various light pulses to signal status such as readiness to drive, turn instructions from the navigation system, brake prompts from driver-assistance systems, and incoming phone calls. When using voice commands, it signals that it is listening, similar to voice-activation on mobile phones or virtual assistants. When the ID. Buzz is plugged in to charge, the ID. Light indicates the current level of charge.

IQ.DRIVE driver assistance technology, featuring hands-on Level 2 ready capability, is standard in the ID. Buzz. On the highway, IQ.DRIVE features lane centering and a capacitive steering wheel to help make driving easier. Around town, IQ.DRIVE helps alert you to obstacles in front of you, and keeps an eye around you to help make driving safer. Dynamic Road Sign Display is standard as well, and a head-up display, Park Assist with remote parking, and Area View are available features.

A long time coming, and lots of technology updates between 2001 and 2024. But it’s proof that a good idea is a good idea, regardless of the decade.

***

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Wagenmasters’ Dustin Gomez never intended to shake the foundation of the Volkswagen community. Heck, he never even planned on moving into a shop space—or even putting a name on it. As he tells it, he just wanted to build the Beetle he never got the chance to finish back in high school.

“I daily drove a 1969 Beetle in high school. I loved it, but one thing had to go before college, and that was the car,” he recalls, smiling. “Fifteen years later, I would go to shows and leave thinking, ‘buy the car you never got to finish.” He found another ’69 and got to work, slowly restoring it in his driveway.

Seven years later, we’re chatting in the middle of Wagenmasters’ shop floor in Upland, California, sandwiched between a pair of 1956 “Ragtop” Beetles in two very different states of repair. To my left is a rusty, crusty Bug sitting sky-high on a lift, the undercarriage crossed with brittle twigs from a long hibernation in Oklahoma. The other Beetle is nothing more than a clean metal carcass awaiting primer.

Gomez tells me both cars are destined for Gooding & Company’s sales block at some point. In the years since that driveway restoration, Wagenmasters’ has become one of Goodings’ go-to sources for impossibly restored and impeccably presented air-cooled VWs. His restorations routinely command low six-figures on the block, with each sale inspiring several would-be buyers to place a similar build with Wagenmasters, never balking at the matching six-figure bill for a wheels-up project.

If you’re shocked at the prospect of a $100,000 Beetle, you aren’t alone. “The VW community has a love-hate relationship with us,” Gomez explains. “Because, if you’re trying to get into the serious restoration of VWs, you’re pushing the car into a market where it’s now hard to get.”

We first ran into Gomez at Gooding & Company’s auction preceding this year’s Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance. His 1959 Karmann-Ghia convertible was a standout at Gooding’s blue-turfed tent, attracting a mighty $123,200 winning bid that makes it the most expensive Karmann-Ghia ever sold at auction.

Whatever happened to das Volks wagen? What changed to make it acceptable to pay Porsche prices for old Beetles and Karmann-Ghias that were once the poster children for thrifty motoring? Gomez thinks it’s a combination of things. “Everything has been so crazy in the market for a while now,” he says. “And I think it’s our auction success that has further elevated the VW in collector’s eyes.”

A rising tide, and all that—but they made millions of VWs, and there are plenty of exceptional Volkswagen restoration shops around the world. I press him on what specifically is in Wagenmasters’ (WM) secret sauce. “I think it’s how we present it in a form of complete originality. And, the way we load up on the jewelry, the rare accessories, it elevates the car and gives it a humungous ‘wow’ factor,” he explains. “I think it’s something many collectors have never seen contextualized like that before. They know Volkswagen, but they don’t know it like that.”

He’s onto something there. Each Gooding-bound WM build arrives loaded to the valves with hard-to-find trimmings, some restored and some simply new-old-stock (NOS) parts dredged from every corner of the earth. We’re not just talking special shift-knobs or wheelcaps, either; Gomez tells us of dash-mounted coffee makers, map lights, radio upgrades, and window vents that have passed through his hands.

As these are simple bolt- or clip-on accessories manufactured in-period, each car could be considered “unmodified” — though it’s best not to approach a WM build under the impression these are numbers-matching, factory-sheet restorations. For the most part, each car is prepared with perfected period-correct paint, upholstery material/color, and options. So, think of WM’s creations as the idealized vision of that car.

In the shop office, he unlocks a glass display cabinet brimmed with enough rare goodies to outfit an ancient VW dealership. “This paper has to be at least 60 years old,” says Gomez as he pulls out a particularly rare a chrome wheel ring from its original brown wrapping. There’s a small dent in one of the lips. “I’m figuring out how to fix this,” he tells me. Unless he pointed it out, I probably wouldn’t have noticed—but those spending serious money on one of WM’s concours-grade builds sure would.

Then, there are the cars WM choses to restore. “[Official] Wagenmasters cars are all convertibles or ragtops,” Gomez explains, quite seriously. “There won’t be a coupe that goes to Gooding, as no matter what, it’s less money for a coupe. For us, the roof has to pull back.”

And, of all the multifarious Bug variants on the market, he tells me it’s the split-window, Ragtop Beetles—those with the retractable cloth roof section—with the optional “crotch cooler” side inlets that can be opened for fresh-air circulation that pry open the most wallets and snatch the most eyes. Amongst the “standard” mid-century Beetles, it’s the Ragtop that’s the standout model.

So, when WM brings a stunningly clean example of the “best” Bug wearing a crateful of desirable accoutrements to a tent filled with moneyed folks content with dropping seven- and eight-figure bank wires for a single car, tossing low-six-figures at one of the cleanest VWs in existence seems like a bygone conclusion.

“When our car lands at Gooding, it’s in a room full of one-million, two-million, five-million-dollar cars. What we bring is immaculate, but we’re still the cheapest kid in the room,” he laughs. “It makes it real easy to take us home.”

It also appears interest in top-shelf VWs is broadening. “I see people adding multiple VWs to their collection,” Gomez explains. “They start with a Beetle, then move into a Ghia, and then go into a Thing, and now they have a whole VW section in their garage.”

“It’s also a memory thing,” says WM mechanic Ron Lubetski. “They want something to remind them of their youth.” Gomez nods: “They’re thrifty, and they’re conversation pieces. Wherever you go, people want to stop and talk about it. Someone, somewhere, somehow had a Bug in their house.

That enthusiasm appears to be contagious. With each WM car sold, the market price goes up and his phone rings off the hook with would-be bidders looking to restore their dream VW or simply recreate the car they couldn’t buy at Gooding. It’s great for business, but restoring VWs is no longer the cheap-‘n-cheerful process it used to be. Quality parts availability is becoming a real concern, and as people notice the sale prices spiking, they’re hoarding original body panels and the like. “I just paid $700 for one fender. Before, when I started doing this, I could grab a fender for $50,” Gomez sighs. “Now everyone knows the value behind an Oval,” referring to 1953-1957 cars with oval rear windows. Regionality is also a hurdle; the WM team sources old VWs from everywhere except California, where VW culture is strongest and good cars are significantly more expensive than out-of-state.

Realistically, a restoration of this quality and detail was always going to be expensive, VW or not. Metalwork takes time, as does sweating the small stuff—an often-obsessive activity that’s not considered a pejorative in the concours world. Gomez tells me of the struggles surrounding the Karmann resuscitation, and how he had to “cut the car in half” at one point in the process.

I ask Gomez and Lubetski what’s next for the VW market. “I think it’s going planetary in the next year, year-and-a-half if the economy stays as it is,” says Gomez. “Like $20,000 for a rolling chassis. I think a car like this [ragtop] will be a $150,000 car after it leaves our hands.” There has to be a plateau point, right? “I’d say $150,000 to $175,000 for the best cars,” Lubetski says.

Again, this kind of cash was never part of Gomez’ plan. That 1969 Bug was just a fun project to scratch the itch. After a summer of daily cruising, he sold the ’69 for solid profit at a Mecum sale in Las Vegas, using the unexpected windfall to source a 1957 Volkswagen “Ragtop” Beetle from an older enthusiast in his hometown of San Dimas, California. Another driveway restoration ensued with the help of neighbors, friends, and family.

That ragtop proved pivotal in the WM story, reverently referred to by Gomez as the “Coral car,” so-named after the finished project’s pastel Coral Red paint. As he tells it, this was also the start of WM’ recognition as one of the leading sources of rare accessories, as the Coral car was quite the canvas for Gomez’ collection; aside from a charming paint-matched Allstate single-wheel trailer, the car wore hard-to-find extras like cross-laced beauty wheel rings, Petri Pelite steering wheel, NOS fender skirts, and a Hella searchlight, among others.

It was more presentation than car. “I noticed that regardless if it was a VW-specific or American show, the Coral car would sweep the awards. I was beating Chevelles, Mustangs, Bel-Aires,” he says, still sounding surprised.

The car’s shocking $61,600 sale at Barrett-Jackson’s 2018 Scottsdale extravaganza woke him up. “That lit a fire inside me — now I had to find every oval window out there,” he laughs. “But, when the Coral car sold, everything changed. I [originally] bought the car for $5,000, and after it sold, everyone was asking like $14,000 [for cars he would inquire about buying], saying ‘We know what you can do with the car.’”

He quickly sourced another 1957 ragtop, this time from New Mexico, followed by the 1959 Karmann-Ghia Convertible project from the same San Dimas enthusiast who sold him the first ’57. Meanwhile, people started to take serious interest in Gomez’ driveway builds. “People started knocking on my door, asking if I’d build a car for them. At first, I turned it down because I was too deep in my own projects,” he explains. “In the beginning, it was just me and friends I could find and offer a few bucks to help me wrench. I didn’t want to paint myself into a corner.”

Family and community is a common theme at WM. Gomez’ girlfriend is the shop manager, and his mother does the books as part of her existing bookkeeping business, with mechanic Ron Lubetski and his son Hunter making up the remaining half of the four-person team.

Even the name “Wagenmasters” holds deep roots in Gomez’ community. Admittedly self-taught primarily through books and videos, Gomez volunteered at the local VW workshop in high school, serving as the shop grunt who cleaned and moved parts around. “I was looking for anything I could to push my first Bug over the line,” he remembers with a smile. The shop unfortunately closed just a few months after he started, but his time there made a lasting impact.

When it came time to make his own work official, Gomez could think of no better name than the continuation of the old defunct shop of his youth, only with one key difference—Wagenmasters in place of the bygone Wagonmasters.

Now, WM is busier than ever. At the time of my visit, WM had three cars in various states of restoration slated for Gooding sales, with four or five customer cars in line for restoration—which now is a year-and-a-half turnaround process. Even so, don’t think you have to spend $90,000 on a rusty ragtop to get shop-space with the WM team; despite the record setting sale and a portfolio of award-winning wheels-up restorations, WM happily offers standard servicing to anything with a VW pancake motor.

WM is surprisingly upfront with hourly rates and service pricing on their website. “It’s what I wanted when I was working on my own car,” says Gomez. And, since they’re not entirely removed from their Volkswagen cousins, WM is also open to restoration and service on Porsches. As everything aside from paint and upholstery stitching is done in-house, they won’t touch something hyper-complex like a Carrera four-cam, but anything with a standard 356 engine is welcome—as proven by the shop’s gleaming, freshly restored drop-top 356 just waiting for finishing touches.

I ask Gomez what he sees in the future for Wagenmasters. “This, and hopefully the bay next door,” he says, gesturing at the small two-car workshop. “No bigger. We all love what we do here, and then we go home and eat dinner. In the long run, we’re all home on time.”

“It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do – build cool cars and make it home for dinner.”

***

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The post This small shop produces some of the world’s greatest Volkswagen restorations appeared first on Hagerty Media.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the impact of an aftermarket wheel could be measured by the number of replicas that pop up after its release. Many companies have tried to clone the evergreen mesh design of the BBS RS wheel, but none have seen the same success.

Heinrich Baumgartner and Klaus Brand founded BBS (Baumgartner Brand Schiltach) in Schiltach, Germany, in 1970. The company initially made lightweight plastic body panels for club racers but quickly shifted its focus to creating wheels for motorsports. As early as 1972, BBS was supplying its first three-piece wheel to race teams.

A three-piece wheel is typically composed of a forged aluminum face and spun aluminum inner barrels and outer lips (more exotic materials like magnesium or carbon fiber have been used as well). The assembly is then bolted together and sealed up with either silicone sealant, or a metal and rubber gasket. Some three-piece wheels, particularly from Japanese manufacturers, are welded together.

In racing applications with specialized size requirements, the modular nature of a three-piece saves on manufacturing costs as the same face can be used for different wheel widths. Also, if a part of the wheel gets damaged, that component can be replaced without scrapping the entire wheel. The design became widely used in motorsports, with BBS wheels showing up on everything from touring and endurance cars to formula racers.

To capitalize on its motorsports fame, BBS launched the RS wheel in 1983. It was the first three-piece wheel intended for OEM use. The faces were created by heating up a chunk of aluminum and pressing it into a mold with 6500 tons of pressure. The process, called die forging, made for a very strong wheel. The RS looked like it belonged on a touring car and used the same three-piece construction as the racing wheels but was available from the dealership as an option for your Porsche, Volkswagen, or Audi. Optioning the RS on a new car would cost you dearly, though, setting you back a cool $2000.

BBS didn’t just sell the RS to car manufacturers, however. Anyone with means who wanted to add racing style to their street car could buy a set. Some of the more outlandish ’80s tuners such as Gemballa used deep-dish RS wheels on their widebody demo cars. Diameters ranged from 14 to 18 inches and were available in several widths. Most RS faces came in either silver or gold, but limited runs of other color schemes appeared throughout the wheel’s 12-year production run; the Prima Donna, for example, had a white face with gold hardware.

The RS remains sought after today thanks to its classic looks and motorsports connection. As such, expect to pay upward of $2500 for a set. Larger and wider wheels usually command a hefty premium. Curbed lips or cracked barrels aren’t the end of the world—some companies still offer replacement parts for the RS. The silicone seal can leak on wheels that haven’t been taken apart in a while, but the fix is easy: Just remove the old silicone and reapply.

If you don’t like cleaning wheels, the RS isn’t for you. Scrubbing dirt and grime from the many spokes will test your patience. Beware of one-piece cast-aluminum replicas. They are everywhere, and unscrupulous sellers might try to make a quick buck from the uninitiated.

If you need the perfect wheel to complement your Radwood-era ride or modern show car, find yourself a set of the original RS wheels.

***

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Abschreibungen. If Google Translate is to be believed, that’s German for “depreciation.”

Funny, I always thought it was Phaeton—but as it turns out, that’s French by way of ancient Greek for “vintage touring car,” and not “ultra-luxe W-12 VW sedan sells for 5.76-percent of inflation-adjusted MSRP on Cars and Bids.”

Well. I never was any good at foreign languages in school—let alone riting gud in Englush—but you learn something every day. Oh, I already knew the Phaeton was cheap, but $7445? Shoot, if anything goes awry—and that’s a hysterical inevitability with the Phaeton W-12—you could make that back and more if you part the car out.

Yes, it looks like the Phaeton takes its Bentley roots a bit too seriously. Like the Continental GT and Continental Flying Spur that share VW’s D1 platform, the Phaeton clearly presents an opportunity for your dollar to go a long way—just make sure there are plenty more where the first buck came from, as you never really pay off a W-12 Phaeton, you just transfer the loan note from the bank to your local VW specialist.

According to the Cars and Bids listing, this 2004 VW Phaeton originally sold new for $81,690, or around $130,000 adjusted for inflation at the time of this writing. Envisioned as a stealthy, comfort-oriented limo alternative to the sportier A8, the Bentley-based Phaeton never sold in healthy numbers aside from Germany and China, where enough moved to justify refreshes and updates until final discontinuation in 2016.

Just over 84,000 Phaetons sold globally, but only roughly 3400 moved into the States, and only 500 of those carried the wild 6.0-liter W-12 in place of the standard 4.2-liter V-8. Conceptually, they’re quite fascinating cars; VW Chairman Ferdinand Piëch decreed 10 engineering parameters to the development team that the nascent Phaeton must match prior to entering production. The full list isn’t public, but we know one of them was the car must be able to cruise at 186 mph with an exterior temperature of 122°F while the occupants relaxed in 72°F perfection.

It was over-engineered—scratch that, excessively engineered—without much thought to durability or serviceability. As a result, Phaetons are extraordinarily maintenance-intensive, and the costs do not reflect the Volkswagen badge on snout and tail. Cars and Bid’s example has managed to cover an impressive 180,000 miles since new, incurring over $50,000 in repairs since 2011 alone.

Even with that substantial investment, this Phaeton isn’t perfect. The sale notes a number of exterior scratches, dings, undercarriage rust, and wear present on interior trim. We don’t track Phaetons in the Hagerty Price Guide, but considering we maintain an average guaranteed value of $12,100 for our Phaeton policies in the U.S., this looks to be bought right in line with the market when taking into account condition and mileage.

Now, when are we going to see this type of depreciation in Golf Rs? If they perform anything like the first-gen R32, I’m screwed.

***

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The VW ID. 2all concept car sees Wolfsburg going back to the future. On the one hand, it previews a small electric car due in 2025. But on the other hand, it thrusts elements of VW’s past into the present. How so? Its digital instruments will display cool retro graphics from Volkswagens of the past.

This is probably the best digital gimmick we’ve yet been treated to by the touchscreen-generation of modern cars and their haptic-equipped, gesture-controlled dashboards and gizmos.

It means you could call up the instrument cluster of a Mk I Golf and imagine you’re back in the mid to late 1970s, tugging at a choke lever, twisting the key in the ignition barrel and looking for the ignition lights before cranking it to life and waiting for the telltale engine-check lights to go out. Cool, right? Okay, maybe it’s just us …

It will also mimic the spartan look of a classic Beetle, while the virtual cassette player is another neat touch – one that won’t chew up your cassettes or get stuck in a never-ending cycle of auto-reverse because the tape is in a bit of a mangled state.

VW’s head of design, Andreas Mindt, said: “We are transferring the DNA of our icons into the future. The ID. 2all is therefore also an homage to the Beetle, Golf and Polo.”

Mere words in a press pack, but Mindt’s comment about DNA has some substance.

Take the C-pillar, which pays homage to the Mk1 Golf. “The C-pillar is the backbone of the Volkswagen design. In the ID. 2all, the stability of the C-pillar initially flows from the backbone into the side body elements,” said Mindt.

It, ahem, blends particularly well with the heckblende, which we suspect will be illuminated on the production version. Time to dig out that Hella rear panel catalogue from the attic?

There’s more good news on the inside, where you’ll find a “self-explanatory infotainment system with classic volume control and a separate air conditioning block”. A victory for common sense and, we suspect, a response to the less-than-positive response to the make-everything-digital Mk8 Golf and other ID models.

For now, the ID. 2all is a concept, but rest assured it’s destined for production. VW says the 58kWh battery will offer a range of 280 miles and be charged from 10 to 80 percent in 20 minutes.

The 0-62mph time of seven seconds will keep a Mk1 Golf GTI driver on their toes, but the 99mph is more Golf 1.6 LS than hot hatch.

VW says it’ll come with a starting price of less than €25,000 (£22,000), which would make it one of the more affordable electric cars on the market.

As you can tell, we dig the retro instrument panel and tip of the hat to VW’s heritage, but what do you think? Let us know in the comments.

***

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Need to brush up on your custom-car lingo? Here are 35 must-know terms to help you make sense of the artistry on stage in Detroit in 2023. —Ed. 

The Detroit Autorama’s Ridler Award is arguably the most prestigious trophy in the custom-car world. Each winning vehicle costs at least a million dollars to build. Last year’s winner, Rick Bird’s Sho Bird, a 1931 Chevrolet whose radical front-end styling incorporated two big turbochargers and exhaust pipes, was a bit controversial. I don’t know if the Ridler judges are affected by popular opinion, but this year’s Great Eight finalists seemed to go in the other direction, with restrained styling no matter how extreme the modifications might be.

Clean lines and elegant executions were the themes of the day, like the winner Maximus, pictured above. Another departure was the fact that none of the finalists were prewar cars, so no traditional hot rods, a factor which further distinguishes the 2023 Ridler competition from the year’s other top custom award, the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster at the Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona, California.

The selection in Detroit were fairly diverse and original. Concerning popular postwar cars that you can see at just about any custom car show, no Corvettes, 1969 Camaros, ’57 Chevys, or Chevrolet S-10 pickups made the cut.

1950 Mercury: Maximus

The closest thing to a traditional hot rod was probably Maximus, a “lead sled”-styled 1950 Mercury two-door wearing metallic pearl “Candy Root Beer” paint, competing in the Radical Hardtop class. Built by Bruce Harvey’s Pro-Comp Custom shop near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (which built 2022’s winner, Sho Bird), with an interior by Paul Atkins, the car is owned by Luigi Deriggi, a grocer from Toms River, New Jersey.

Powered by a Ford Coyote V-8 engine with Borla stack injection and a Kooks mandrel-bent exhaust, the Mercury is mounted on an Art Morrison chassis fitted with air-ride suspension and one-off wheels by Chris Boyd. (Read the full story on Maximus here.)

1958 Chevrolet Cameo: El Cameo

Jim McDaniel’s El Cameo, in the Radical Pickup class, is a “what if” project, as in: What if Chevrolet had made a more car-like pickup truck before the 1959 El Camino, based on its Cameo pickup?

El Cameo was designed by Dave Kindig and built by Dan Wickett’s Hot Rod Construction. The build involved fabricating custom metal-stamping dies to create production-looking body panels that had never actually been produced before. I was a bit confused because McDaniel describes the El Cameo as converted to unibody construction but the body rides on a custom Art Morrison chassis. Its suspension is configured so that McDaniel, who has competed at the national level in the SCCA, can take the truck autocrossing, so El Cameo is hardly your typical straight-line-speed hot rod. It turns out that “unibody” means that the pickup’s separate bed has been integrated into the cab’s body, just like on the El Camino.

While El Cameo is listed as a 1958 model, it’s actually based on a ’56 Chevy pickup, with a ’58’s front end grafted on. In back, the bed has a floating zebrawood deck that lines up perfectly flush with the open tailgate, due to the tailgate’s sophisticated hinge system.

McDaniel’s choice of a powerplant involved some thought. Rather than just drop in some kind of LS (which would still be brand appropriate), he took a step farther and sourced a period-correct, 348-cubic-inch Chevrolet V-8, manufactured in November of 1957, and had it bored and stroked to 443 cubic inches by Dixie Dyno. Horsepower and torque figures are 560/569. You can read the full build book here.

1965 Ford Mustang: GT 427

One of the questions that I like asking Ridler finalists is: “If you can’t win, which other finalist do you like the best?”

While some owners and builders declined to answer, the most popular response was the flawless black and white 1965 Ford Mustang in the Street Touring class, a 20-year project started by another owner and completed by Rejean Desjardins of Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. An owner-built vehicle, Desjardins’ “GT 427” is an example of a simple concept—in this case, a black-and-white color scheme—executed well.

Actually, calling the GT 427 a simple concept or a restomod doesn’t do it enough credit. The idea was to come up with what modern Ford engineers might have created if they were tasked with making a contemporary concept car for today’s show circuit, given a no-expense-spared budget. Custom carbon-fiber parts include a complete roof overlay, engine bay panels, the grille, front splitter, side mirror, hood, hood scoop, and a Ring Brothers’ trunk lid.

With the exception of the hood and trunk lid, which are painted white, all of the carbon-fiber parts have exposed matching weaves aligned on a 45-degree bias to the centerline. The front clip is a single piece, body seams have been eliminated, and the headlights and taillights have been flush-mounted. The frameless side windows are also flush-mounted.

The Mustang is powered by a 5.0-liter “Boss 302” Coyote engine with stack fuel injection and Motec management, driving through a Tremec 600 gearbox. Chassis upgrades include boxed and contoured frame rails, a JME K-frame with CNC-machined control arms, Wilwood six-piston calipers, and an in-house designed Watt’s linkage rear suspension.

1955 Chevrolet: Chrome Blues

Another owner-built Great Eight finalist with a well-executed two-color scheme was Melbourne, Florida’s Snodgrass brothers’ Chrome Blues, a 1955 Chevrolet convertible in, as you would expect, lots of shiny chrome and a beautiful shade of paint the brothers call Twisted Blue Pearl.

Many of the Ridler competitors’ displays include floor-mounted mirrors so you can see the vehicles’ undercarriages and, in the case of the Chevy ragtop, the underside was as perfect and clean as the rest of the car. An estimated 8000 hours was spent on the build. Body mods include shortened front and rear pans, redesigned and narrowed bumpers, one-piece welded front end, redesigned headlights, a frenched antenna mount, custom firewall, seamless cowl, and mini tubs for the fat rear tires. Paint was done in-house, while Space Coast Plating did all of the gleaming, mirror-finished chrome.

The beige leather and suede interior is by Fusco Upholstery, with modern electronics, infotainment and options. Mechanically, the Tri-Five Chevy is mounted on a custom tube frame, and is powered by a LS3 GM V-8 driving through a GM 4L60E automatic gearbox.

Getting an owner-built car into the Great Eight is quite an accomplishment. When organizers were putting out the Great Eight banners, I saw one of the Snodgrass brothers hug someone, his eyes glistening with tears of joy. When I said to him, “You’re crying,” he replied, “I’m just proud of the fact that the three of us [brothers David and Kenny Snodgrass and their associate Mike Wisnewski] did it all by ourselves.”

1953 Chevrolet 1300: Silver Ghost

Just about every year there’s at least one obvious underdog in the Ridler competition. Tim Hampel’s Silver Ghost was one of those. Despite the name, it’s a 1953 Chevy 1300 pickup truck, not a vintage Rolls-Royce. It got that name because of its flawless silver paint set off with a bronze engine compartment and interior.

Hampel said that his hopes were high but that he really hadn’t expected to be in the final eight selects. His statement was evinced by the fact that his display didn’t have any of the accoutrements that Ridler finalists usually have, like fancy lights, mirrors under the car, build books (a couple of cars even had signs with bar codes to access digital versions), or professional signs listing the mods and contributors to the build.

This was Hampel’s first effort to compete for the Ridler. As a matter of fact, while the truck was built to be a show car, the decision to bring it to the Autorama wasn’t made until just two months ago. Many of the other cars in the competition have owners and builders who been in touch with show organizers over the entire course of their builds—in some cases, for years.

Hampel originally built the car himself when he was 18 years old in 1984 but parked it about ten years later. He had a young son then whom he hoped would want to work on it when he got older but his now grown son has other interests. Hampel decided to rebuild it himself about six years ago, intending for it to be a daily driver, but after turning the project over to Nick Ryan of Arlington, Texas’ Killer Hot Rods: “It morphed into this. Nick did a terrific job.”

Ryan told me that “simple and clean was the goal,” although every panel on the truck has been shortened, stretched, or reshaped in some manner. The truck is powered by a supercharged 468-cubic-inch big-block Chevy V-8 with Holley fuel injection. The intake is supplied with air via a custom 3D-printed scoop on the cowl that echoes the front end. The truck is mounted on a customized factory chassis, with tubular control arms in front and a custom four-link suspension in the back, with a pro-street-style rear end.

1967 Chevrolet Nova: Rome

Tim Hampel’s Chevy truck might not have had the usual signage, but the placard with build information for Foristell, Missouri’s Shawn Nichoalds’ 1967 Chevrolet Nova/Chevy II stretched nearly the entire length of the silver car.

Rome, competing in the Radical Hardtop category, was designed and built by Samson Design. There are about 30 body modifications listed, all sorts of things shaved, stretched, and smoothed but you’d have to be an expert on the Chevy II to spot them as they are so subtle and well integrated into the design.  The Chevy II was originally manufactured with semi-unibody construction, so to handle increased power some of those body mods involved reinforcements to frame connectors, the front crossmember, subframe connectors, and the rear frame rails.

The custom tan and black leather interior was done in-house and features a custom headliner, handmade panels, and a custom, billet-machined steering wheel with the Rome “R” logo. The 18-inch wheels are off-the-shelf units from Schott but they have custom-machined center caps embellished with the logo.

The truck is powered by a 496-cubic-inch “stroker” big-block Chevy V-8 with a billet aluminum timing cover and custom two-piece valve covers. Transmission is a 4L80E by TCI with a TCI Outlaw shifter. The limited-slip differential sits in a narrowed rear end from Beilman Fabrication. Brakes are by Wilwood with a custom billet master cylinder, logo included.

1978 Ford Mustang II: King Coyote

George Conrad’s 1978 Ford Mustang II, titled King Coyote and built by Rowes Rod and Custom, was my sentimental favorite: It annoys me when people inaccurately trash the downsized Stang as a glorified Pinto. Conrad’s car is based on a ’78 King Cobra and, as you’d expect from the car’s name, it’s powered by a Ford Coyote engine—in this case, wearing a Whipple supercharger.

King Coyote has flush-mounted rear glass, shaved and styled quarter glass, a fabricated duckbill spoiler on the deck lid, new LED taillights with custom housings, an aero-inspired rear roll pan with a diffuser, Shelby Cobra–styled side pipes, and a Shelby-styled fuel filler.

Perhaps to mollify Mustang II haters, the front bumper is from a ’67 Mustang and the rear bumper is a tucked and modded ’67 Shelby unit. The interior was fully fabricated for the build, featuring handcrafted leather along with billet sill plates, shifter, steering wheel, and pedals. Shelby racing harnesses are mounted to the chromoly roll bar. Dakota Digital supplied the gauges, and Vintage Air made the A/C unit. If those side exhausts aren’t loud enough, King Coyote has a 2000-watt “Harmon Cardon” (sic) 5:1 Dolby audio system.

1969 Dodge Superbee

One of the reasons why cars competing for awards like the Ridler often have signs indicating the various body, paint, and mechanical shops that did work on their builds is that placing in the Great Eight, let alone winning a Ridler, can do wonders for those businesses.

When I interviewed the builder of Kathy Cargill’s ultra-clean and straight-looking 1969 Dodge Superbee, he didn’t want his face on camera. When I asked him for the name of his shop, he said he didn’t have a shop, that he just builds cars for one family along with his painter. That might seem a bit odd, but then the Cargill family owns a 158-year-old agribusiness that is the largest (by revenue) privately held corporation in the United States. They can afford to employ their own private custom-car builders.

Kathy Cargill is a notable car collector with a passion for all sorts of performance machinery. In addition to her hot rods, she owns a number of McLarens, including a Senna. Her Great Eight Mopar has a 392-cubic-inch supercharged Hemi, Heidts Super T subframes and suspensions front and rear, Wilwood brakes, and one of Budnik’s stock wheel sets.

Surprisingly, for a custom car, since most Ridler competitors try to come up with original paint colors, the Superbee is finished in a standard Volkswagen group color—Volcano Red Metallic, used on a number of factory stock VWs and Audis.

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There are startling similarities between 1973 and today. 50 years ago, an oil crisis was gripping the U.S. and western Europe. Some horror stories even claimed BMW’s new Dingolfing factory in Bavaria would be the last car plant ever built. Thankfully, they were wrong. Even better, some great cars were revealed in 1973. We look at four of the most significant.

Ferrari 365 GT4 BB

For any car-obsessed youngster in the 1970s, the Ferrari 365 GT4 BB (“Berlinetta Boxer”) was a dream machine, even if most only experienced it as a poster to stick on their bedroom wall or as the card to have in Top Trumps.

It might not look quite as dramatic as the Lamborghini Countach that launched the following year, but the Ferrari Berlinetta Boxer was certainly the prettier of the pair.

That elegant, dart-like shape was broadly based on the Ferrari Pininfarina Modulo concept car (below) that had wowed visitors to the 1970 Geneva Motor Show. Different to any Ferrari production car up to that point, the BB was the first of the Maranello breed to feature a 12-cylinder engine mounted behind the driver.

And what an engine it was. The flat-12—hence the abbreviated “boxer” in of the 365 GT4 BB’s name—was based in part on Ferrari’s Formula 1 engines. In the 365 GT4 BB, the engine was longitudinally mounted, with one camshaft per bank of six cylinders. The five-speed transmission sat below the crankshaft, making access … tricky.

With capacity increased from 2992 cc to 4390 cc and launched into an oil crisis and its accompanying recession, the engine defied any sales slowdown.

So aggressive was the 365 GT4 BB’s styling, with the tear-drop shaped windows and one-piece bodywork front and rear, that all 387 models were sold before it morphed into the 512BB in 1976.

Strange fact: The 365 BB was the first Ferrari to have a “space-saver” spare wheel—an extra that was smaller and skinnier than the four wheels fit from the factory.

BMW 2002 turbo

Car lovers who were old enough to watch the 1972 Olympic Games might remember the parade was led by a BMW Turbo concept car (below). Only two examples of the concept were built, but their 2.0-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder engines helped BMW produce the first turbocharged production sedan.

The 2002 turbo, launched in 1973, featured the 2002 sedan’s regular inline four-cylinder, 1990-cc engine enhanced with a KKK turbocharger. The result? Power went from 130 to 170 bhp with a similarly healthy increase in torque. Rather logically, BMW also increased the capacity of the fuel tank, from 46 liters to 70.

But remember, this was the dawn of turbocharging technology. When the KKK’s boost arrived at around 4000 rpm, it did so with an almighty bang. The driveline was wondrous to some, intimidating to others, and all wrapped up in one awesomely aggressive package.

Tales of 2002 turbo drivers spinning (or worse), caught out by the sudden arrival of unmanageable amounts of turbo boost to the rear wheels, are legendary. Those who first drove the 2002 turbo might not have felt privileged, but today, they seem quite fortunate for driving such a rare beast of a car.

The turbo car’s price was a hefty 40 percent above that of regular, “hot” 2002, the Tii. After just three years on sale, with only 1672 built, BMW canned the 2002 turbo, citing … the oil crisis.

Strange fact: Early models wore “2002 turbo” in mirrored script on their front spoilers so drivers ahead knew exactly what was behind them. (See above.) BMW was criticized for being overly aggressive and quickly dropped the logo.

MGB GT V8

It often takes an outsider to call attention to something that’s sitting right under the nose of a company’s board. So it was with Ken Costello and MGB.

The British engineer and racing driver realized that the 3.5-liter aluminum V-8 designed by Buick in Detroit and used for Rovers would be perfect for the MGB, the company’s two-door, four-cylinder-powered sports car. On his own, he duly slotted the V-8 into the petite coupe—critically, without the enormous redesign that MG’s British Leyland bosses had initially feared.

Looking on enviously, Leyland realized this outsider in a garage in Kent had cleverly stumbled on the solution to its underpowered MGB and BGT coupe. Leyland boss Lord Stokes summoned Costello and asked to look at his prototype BGT V8.

During the meeting, Stokes said Leyland would rather make its own than buy the idea from Costello. The engineer bluntly told them it would take months to engineer and walked out. Leyland went ahead without Costello and did its own MG BGT V8.

The 90-degree Buick/Oldsmobile/Pontiac 215-cubic-inch V-8 fitted neatly into the engine bay and was actually the same weight as the 1798-cc four-pot it replaced. But this was a hurried, low-budget project and sales were handicapped by the car’s high price.

A handful of early cars made it to the U.S. but the vast majority of the 2591 models built were right-hand drive, built for the U.K..

Strange fact: MG and British Leyland neither credited nor paid Ken Costello for his work on the BGT V8.

VW Scirocco

When you’ve got two models that have been on sale forever, and both are still successful, you’ll be hard-pressed to decide how to replace them. If you’re VW in the early 1970s, you might consult Giorgetti Giugiaro’s ItalDesign.

The famous Italian design house had been working on a coupe for Alfa Romeo and proposed something similar to Volkswagen. Ferdinand Piëch, then head of VW, realized that such a car would solve some significant problems. Volkswagen was looking to supersede the economy-minded Beetle and the sporting Karmann Ghia, and a handsome, Giugiaro two-door would a neat solution. The benefits didn’t end there, either.

Giugiaro had suggested building the Scirocco on the forthcoming Golf’s platform. This meant VW could launch the Scirocco six months before the Golf, enabling the company to iron out any trouble with the platform before production of the volume-selling model began.

Scirocco engine capacities varied from 1.1 to 1.7 liters, the latter being a bigger engine for the U.S. market. American-market cars featured twin round headlamps on either side of the grille. The lights prompted thousands of European Scirocco owners to upgrade their single rectangular lamps.

The Scirocco was a remarkable success for VW: It sold half a million units over the Mk1’s seven-year lifespan. Not bad considering the Scirocco almost hadn’t existed.

Strange fact: VW initially rejected building a low volume sports car until Karmann revealed it would go bust if it didn’t have something to build in place of its long-lived Ghia.

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The Volkswagen Beetle is more than a car. It is a fixture in the landscape of our lives. If not only because so many of them were made—some 21.5 million over 65 years—the humble Bug rolled through history like a little air-cooled Forrest Gump. It was, at various times, a propaganda tool for facism, the poster child for revolutionary advertising campaign, a groovy symbol of the Summer of Love, a champion of the hot-rodding community, and a movie star. To say nothing of inspiring the likes of the Meyers Manx Dune Buggy.

Likewise, the Beetle enthusiast community casts a wide net, from vintage purists to Cali-look gearheads. You can have any kind of VW Beetle experience you want, but it’s useful to have some kind of plan in advance. Here’s a look at the heritage of the Volkswagen Type 1, which we hope will help you figure out what kind of Bug fits you best.

(As Brendan found out during his recent time behind the wheel, Beetles aren’t especially unique but every drive is special. —EW)

An unlikely phoenix

Any discussion of Volkswagen must confront the car’s regrettable origin story. As an example, the very first owner of a civilian convertible VW was Adolf Hitler. History is full of uncomfortable truths.

Conceived as part of the Third Reich’s nationalistic Kraft durch Freude leisure propaganda, the original Volkswagen was intended to be a people’s car for a uniform, pleasant, and obedient German populace. Kraft durch Freude means “Strength through joy,” and it included government-approved holidays, entertainment, and tourism. The KdF-wagen, as Hitler called the VW, was intended to bring motoring to the masses.

Except that wasn’t really the point. German workers received a special booklet to be filled with stamps as they saved up to prepay for the car. Hundreds of thousands of people joined the program, which ran right through until the end of WWII. None of them actually got a Beetle, as the factory, of course, changed over to building war supplies like the military-issue Kubelwagen, and that’s where the money went. It was a bait-and-switch.

However, a few civilian-spec Volkswagens were completed by 1939. Development work was done by Ferdinand Porsche, who was charged by Hitler to come up with a car that could comfortably fit two adults and three children, cruise at 100 km/h (62 mph) on the newly-built Autobahns, and consume no more than seven liters of fuel for every 100 km driven (about 32 mpg). The cost was capped at 990 RM, or about the price of an average motorcycle.

The Kdf-wagen was just over 160 inches long, with a 985-cc flat-four air-cooled engine mounted in the rear. It was rear-wheel-drive and the transmission was a three-speed manual. Brakes were drums front and rear. It rode on a torsion beam suspension.

Here’s where the waters get muddied. While Porsche did develop several prototypes before coming up with two Type-60 pre-production Volkswagens in 1935, the Beetle’s creation has other fingerprints on it. A Jewish engineer named Josef Ganz developed a very similar rear-engined people’s car called the Standard Superior, and he showed it off at the 1933 Berlin Auto Show, which Hitler attended. In 1934, the Gestapo arrested Ganz on trumped-up charges. He eventually was forced to flee and escaped to Switzerland.

There are also clear similarities between Porsche’s ideas for the Volkswagen and some Tatra prototypes dating back to 1933. Tatra sued, but Germany’s invasion of Czechoslovakia put an end to any legal claims. After WWII, an Austro-Hungarian engineer named Béla Barényi successfully sued for credit as his technical drawings made in 1925 are very close to the Beetle’s basic design.

And before we can get to the first Volkswagens to actually make it into the hands of civilian drivers, there is yet another Father of the Beetle to acknowlege: Major Ivan Hirst. After Germany’s defeat, American forces had turned the control of the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg over to the British Army. Intial plans were to strip the factory and turn its manufacturing equipment over to an English car company—but no-one wanted it. An official report predicted the Volkswagen would be a complete commerical disaster.

Hirst disagreed. After disposing of a large, unexploded Allied bomb that would have taken out the production equipment—another bullet dodged by the Beetle—he ordered the factory begin production. These first cars were used in for military duties by occupying forces, but civilian production began shortly afterwards. By the late 1940s, Germany’s people’s car was made available to the people.

Charting the changes

Early Volkswagens are the most valuable, despite being the least suited for modern traffic. In their day, the original 25-hp, 1131-cc engine was up to the task of autobahn driving; but in a modern world of fast-moving interstate traffic, threading a Bug through the lines of F-150s is for the very brave.

Early Beetles are also the most delicate, pure, and pretty. It should be noted here that the “Beetle” and “Bug” appellations are just nicknames, and these cars were simply called Volkswagens. To a European market starved for transportation, the economical cars were an immediate success. When Volkswagen arrived in the U.S. in 1949, it sold just two. Ben Pon, a Dutch racing driver who had success selling the Beetle in the Netherlands, tried in vain to sell what he called the “Victory Wagon,” to a postwar American audience. They weren’t buying.

The next year, New Yorker Max Hoffman wrangled a deal as the sole U.S. importer of Volkswagens, and his gamble paid off. He sold 160 cars in 1950, then 320 in 1951. The Beetle had arrived.

The first 1950 cars came with a split rear-window that is immediately recognizeable among VW fans. Original price for a standard car was $1280 (just under $16K today), although most buyers coughed up the extra $200 for the chrome and creature comforts of the Deluxe model. A standard split window is like a time warp back to the prewar design of those very first pre-production Volkswagens, more a car of 1930s futurism than a vehicle to fit the postwar boom. The interiors have plenty of exposed metal, there’s a single exhaust pipe, and the turn signals are semaphores. This simplicity just adds to the elegance.

Hoffman soon turned to selling Porsches, but based on his initial success, Volkwagen itself entered the U.S. market in 1953. That year also saw the changeover of the split rear window to an oval. In 1951, the VW had been upgraded from cable-operated brakes to hydraulics, and received a slight bump to 30 hp. With synchromesh fitted to all but the first gear of the four-speed manual, the Beetle was now much easier to drive.

Through the 1950s, small changes came year by year, and these are the details that Beetle enthusiasts delight in obsessing over. Bigger improvements include a bump in displacement to 1200 cc in 1954, for some added torque and peak power of 36 hp. By 1956, the Beetle had lost its 1930s-style semaphore lights for conventional indicators, and had gained the characteristic chrome “pea shooter” twin-tailpipes.

By the mid-1950s, when Volkswagen of America was formed, one million Beetles had been built. United States sales were still small, roughly around the 9000 mark in 1954, though they would shoot up significantly the following year. As the 1960s beckoned, this little car was really going to come into its own.

“Think Small”

Probably the most famous automotive advertising campaign—the simple, quirky ads thought up by the Doyle Dane Bernbach corporation—are Mad Men come to life. One ad, with the tag line “Think Small,” shows a black-and-white image of a tiny Volkswagen positioned in the corner of a blank white space. Launched in 1959, it heralded a wave of clever commercials that had people beating down the doors of their local VW showrooms.

Beetle sales exploded in the late 1950s into the 1960s. 1960 saw U.S. sales figures crossing the 100,000 unit mark, and by mid-decade Beetle sales were triple that. Watch any movie or sort through old family photos of the time, and there’s often a Beetle lurking in the background. No wonder the classic roadtrip game of “Punch Buggy” became so popular, despite being so painful for younger siblings.

If a 1950s Beetle is celebrating the engineering and design of the original, the 1960s version allows for a little more creativity. Here’s where the VW fell into the hands of many car customizers, and began its transformation into a mainstay of SoCal car culture, even if you could find that California style on both coasts or anywhere in the middle.

There’s something intensely satisfying in Hitler’s original vehicle for a uniform and docile population ending up as the ultimate counter-culture car. The first Bug In, a popular VW meetup, was held in October 1968, and saw VeeDubbers partying, swapping parts, running door-to-door down the dragstrip, and generally having having a great ol’ time.

The Beetle saw a bump to 1285 cc in 1966, and it now wore a “1300” badge on the rear. All windows had been enlarged in the previous year, with a new, slightly curved front windshield, giving Beetles of this era a more airy feel, though they are not actually any larger. In 1967, the Bug saw another bump in displacement to 1493 cc, and this 53-hp “1500” became the standard offering in North American Beetles.

Even more significant changes came in 1968, with a comprehensive change to the Beetle’s overall look. Some of these improvements were convenience items, like a spring-loaded fuel flap (previously, you had to open the hood to fill up). In a stroke of thrifty genius, the windscreen washer was pressurized by being connected to the spare tire; there was a check valve to prevent the spare tire from losing pressure below 30 psi. The Beetle also got safer, with new bumpers, a collapsing steering column, and a secondary hood latch. There was also a three-speed, semi-automatic transmission on offer, making Beetle ownership possible for those who didn’t want to learn to drive stick. These semi-auto cars got an improved trailing arm rear suspension (Beetle fans refer to this as simply the Independent Rear Suspension) that could also be specially ordered on manual cars and which found its way into all North American spec Beetles the following year.

Also in 1968, Herbie showed up in the film The Love Bug. Autonomous driving is a hotly debated topic these days, but Disney’s self-aware 1963 Beetle brought the charms of a VW to a younger audience. The cultural impact helped prolong the car’s appeal into a new decade.

Super Beetle!

By the time the 1970s rolled around, the Beetle was no longer one of the only players in the compact segment. In the early going it was still competitive in the sales charts, but the likes of the Honda Civic and a host of small Datsuns were arriving, ready to topple Volkswagen with a new type of imported people’s car. So, to fight back, VW went about addressing the complaints owners had about the Bug.

In 1971, VW launched the Super Beetle: everything you loved about the Beetle, but more of it. Two inches longer than the standard VW Type 1, the Super Beetle had 60 hp from its 1600-cc engine, larger brakes, and a new MacPherson strut front suspension added to trunk space. The standard Beetle was briefly sold alongside the Super Beetle. The Super Beetle is a milestone model for the brand, with 1972 marking the year the Beetle hit over 15M built, surpassing the Ford Model T.

You can think of the Super Beetle as analagous to the 996-chassis Porsche or the third-generation NC Mazda MX-5. It’s the least-cool member of the family, but it’s still from a solid bloodline and can be a fun and interesting classic to own and modify. Perhaps the pick of the litter here is the convertible version. Because VW had released the water-cooled Rabbit/Golf in the mid-1970s, anyone still shopping for a Beetle was doing so mostly out of whimsy, and convertible sales remained strong as demand for the sedan tailed off.

Further, by this time, the Beetle’s familiarity had bred some contempt. Why would you restore a car which existed in the millions? Many Super Beetles ended up in scrapyards because they were just an ordinary car. Convertibles were a bit more special, so more seem to have been preserved.

A Mexican epilogue

The last German-made Beetle left the line on January 19, 1978, though Beetle convertible sales continued in the U.S. until an extended 1979 model year. However, south of the border, Mexico wasn’t about to let the Beetle go extinct. The Volkswagen de México factory established in Puebla produced its first VW Beetle in 1967, and would go on to continue to build them until, somewhat incredibly, 2003. For a brief time, it was even possible to buy a Mexican-built Beetle in Germany, where there was residual affection for the little car.

Mexicans called the VW Type 1 the Vocho, and it became a part of everyday life as it had been in the U.S. during the 1960s. Making up an estimated 20 percent of road traffic around the country, the Vocho was also the most common taxi in Mexico city, bright green and white little Bugs scurrying all over.

Through the 1980s and ’90s, Puebla-built Vochos were available in a series of special editions, mostly comprised of unique colors and interior fabrics. When the final Vocho rolled off the line on July 30, 2003, it was serenaded by a mariachi band, having become as much a part of Mexican culture as it was German.

Before you buy: Death foam and other worries

Before we get to a specific Achilles’ heel of later Beetles, there are a few straightforward checks that should be done on any Bug. Corrosion can often be found behind the front wheels and at the bottom of the heater channels; warm air from the engine is ducted to the cabin from these channels, and as warm air also carries more moisture, they can be a common Beetle rust area. Both the front and rear windshield can trap water, so a careful check of the rear luggage tray is in order.

Another quick trick to check for bodywork issues is to check to see if the doors droop when you open them. Hinge pins do wear out, so a drooping door isn’t definitive proof of rot, but it can signal an issue with the lower hinge.

Most alarming is the spray-in expansion foam that VW used in Beetle C-pillars from 1971 forward. This stuff was an absolute haven for moisture, so if you see surface rust bubbles in this location on this era of Beetles, be forewarned that the car is rotting from the inside out. VW enthusiasts have taken to calling it “death foam,” and for good reason.

From a mechanical standpoint, the Beetle’s series of air-cooled engines were simple and durable. Some brief oil burning on startup isn’t out of the ordinary for a flat-four engine, but persistent smoke indicates a bad seal. Likewise a little oil seepage around the pushrod tubes is normal, but it shouldn’t be excessive. Fuel injection arrived in 1975, but this system something of a double-edged sword. When working well, it’s great. But the system is relatively not well understood by the broader VW community, so finding an expert to help an owner troubleshoot any problems is not easy. Often, owners of these later cars will simply replace the system with traditional carburetors.

Body condition is probably the most important consideration, but there are of course replacement parts for pretty much everything. The Beetle is nearly as ubiquitous as a classic as it was when new, and it is supported by a huge aftermarket. Finding and buying a previously completed restoration provides a generally hassle-free pathway to ownership, but if you’re the type that likes to turn you own wrenches, parts supply is good. These cars are relatively simple to work on, and there is a wealth of information out there on them.

One word of caution, however. Because it’s so popular, Beetle parts can be of varying quality depending on manufacturer and country of origin. Some of the more budget-friendly replacement bits aren’t the best, and a buyer should be cautious when looking at a restored example, making sure to check to see that the best was used.

Basically, if you’re interested in a purist expression of the original Volkswagen, then you want a split-window Beetle. And if you can’t get your hands on one of those, you probably want an oval. Parts for the early 25-hp cars are available but they are quite expensive, which might not be a big deal if you don’t plan on keeping it forever; early Beetles fetch top dollar at auction, so painstakingly accurate restorations do pay off. While the ’50s Beetle is the purist’s choice, 1960s Volkswagen enthusiasts go crazy for period-correct aftermarket parts. Scouring swap meets to find rare aftermarket accessories turns ownership into part treasure hunt, and is all part of the fun. As one example, a vintage, German-made Bekowa wood-slat makes a perfect crowning piece for your California-look Beetle project.

A 1968 or ’69 VW is less desirable than a mid-’60s version, simply because the looks changed so much. Having said that, a late-’60s Beetle is possibly the sweet spot in the range for finding a bargain. The cars drive very well, and they still offer that compact Beetle feel. They’re also ideal as a platform on which to build a modified car, with a built-up engine, improved braking (usually front discs), and reworked suspension. A manual 1968 or ’69 with the trailing arm suspension makes for a great buy. Super Beetles are not as beloved as the VWs of the 1950s and ’60s, but they are one of the most affordable and practical ways to get into Beetle ownership.

Volkswagen owners are usually very club-oriented, so it’s fairly easy to seek out your local chapter and find guidance. Other useful sites are The Samba, which has a focus on more stock and period-correct VWs, or the Shop Talk forums, which skews more towards modified VW enthusiasm.

Valuation

For the most up-to-date values on any year of Volkswagen Beetle, be sure to check Hagerty’s Valuation Guide here. As might be expected, the earliest cars are the thinnest on the ground and fetch the highest prices. The trend seems to be expanding.

Almost all Beetles experienced a price spike at the end of the 2010s, benefitting from the surge in air-cooled 911s. A Beetle is not a Porsche, but it does have some Venn diagram overlap with enthusiasts, and it’s not uncommon to see a Porsche collector tuck an early VW in their collection.

Overall, median #2 prices are up 250 percent in the last decade, but there are some high points. The real spike is seen in early split window cars, which are up some 300 percent in the past 10 years. These and the oval window cars are the blue chip Beetles.

Prices for the later 1950s and early-to-mid-60s cars are rising steadily, but with less of a spike. In the last three years, values have risen by 47 percent. For Beetles from 1968 to 1979, prices have shot up most sharply for the sedans, though convertibles are still overall more expensive. Condition #2 values over the last five years are up 126 percent for convertibles and 155 percent for sedans. The bulk of the interest in Beetles comes from Boomers and Gen X, which make up about 70 percent of the quotes.

By make and model, the Volkswagen Beetle is the 11th-most insured car with Hagerty. More tellingly, it is also easily the most popular non-American classic car in the U.S. With so many out there, and such a big fanbase, it’s the perfect classic car to find a match for your personality.

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Any number of cars are special because they are rare, but it takes something truly exceptional to be both common and still charming.

This 1956 Volkswagen Type 1 is exactly that: a car built for the masses, but one that offers an ownership experience that’s arguably more appealing than some contemporary exotica. It is not fast, it is not a particularly deft handler, and to the casual onlooker, it might only ever be, “Just a Beetle.”

But there’s a reason more than 20 million of these cars found homes. It’s the same reason the first movie starring a Volkswagen was called “The Love Bug.” A Beetle’s hardly an Alfa-Romeo, but it can still feel special to drive.

The Volkswagen Type 1 family can basically be broken into three categories: the elegant 1950s, the hotrodder 1960s, and the comfortable but perhaps a bit “Fat Elvis” 1970s.

This 1956 sedan hails from right around the time that Volkswagen became a household name in North America. Sales were slow until 1954, but then exploded in 1955; in the year that this particular Type 1 left the dealership, Volkswagen sold some 50,111 cars. Slightly more than half of all import car sales in the U.S. were VWs.

Why would you buy a funny little German economy car over best-selling General Motors full-sizers like the Impala or Bel Air? It certainly wasn’t prestige and luxury. This car has the popular extra chrome and a push-button AM radio, but even by the standards of the day, creature comforts are pretty spartan. The cabin is roomier than expected thanks to the curving roof, but fitting three bumptious kids in the rear for any kind of road trip would require some judicious application of the now frowned-upon martial art best described as Dad Hand.

The appeal wasn’t necessarily innovation either. When prototypes first debuted in the 1930s, the VW Type 1 was forward-looking and futuristic. By the mid-1950s, it was a bit like a black-and-white space adventure movie. Today, the car has a friendly, cheerful face, but in 1956 the Volkswagen was considered a bit homely, and its rear-mounted, air-cooled flat-four engine a bit odd.

However, by 1956, critics were already raving about the VW’s economy, practicality, and simplicity. The public agreed, voting with their wallets. After all, a sedan like this only cost about $1495. Bugs were everywhere.

Viewing this car through modern eyes emphasizes how simplicity is a nearly lost art in automotive design. It’s such a familiar shape, a curve atop a curve, but seeing an early VW out in the world of cliff-faced pickup truck grilles and fussily corporatized crossovers really underlines how good its design is. It just looks happy.

Plus there’s the added benefit that almost everyone is happy to see you. The original VW is such an icon that everyone seems to have a story about one, and you’d better get used to strangers coming up to talk to you about it. It’s a bit like the thing where motorcyclists all wave to each other, but here you also get waves and smiles from random people walking down the street. Kids too. And I would swear that even dogs seem to pant happily at this car.

A three-speed automatic was available much later in the VW’s lifespan, but in a 1956 you get a four-speed manual. Power – such as it is – comes from an 1192 cc flat-four engine that sipped gasoline through a single-barrel carburetor and made just 36 hp. Fitted with twin chrome exhaust pipes for the ’56 model year, that flat-four makes a sound that is immediately recognizable to anyone who grew up with Beetles around. It’s hard to describe, but it’s a blend of a chirp and dried pea rattle that sounds like a cricket performing an offbeat drumroll.

Thus, as soon as you start a VW, it puts a smile on your face. Engage first gear and set off. Delightfully, 36 hp immediately feels like enough. Not a surfeit of power, certainly, but not lacking either, and with enough torque to get up to speed or climb the odd hill or two.

The other surprise is how comfortable the VW feels. This is a pretty basic car with torsion-beam suspension, but because it is light and has a rear weight bias, it feels slightly floaty to drive. The steering is very light – since the front end is – and you can see how North American drivers would come away from a test drive impressed.

As usual, it’s the brakes that offer a dose of reality. They’re not bad by the standard of the day, but like many cars of the 1950s, a little forward planning and alertness is required. New cars can stop a lot quicker than a Beetle can, so you give people a little extra room.

The handling is as much a Beetle characteristic as the soundtrack. Dire pronouncements about treacherous swing arm rear suspension are really only a danger if you’re really driving a VW furiously on rough roads, and why on earth would you be angry-driving one of these? Instead, it’s just a bit of a lean, that airy-light front, and the feeling of planted traction out back. For an economy car in its mid-to-late sixties, this Beetle scarcely puts a foot wrong as a slow dancer.

Seated in an airy cabin with great sight lines, grasping the simple two-spoke steering wheel, it’s easy to understand why the Beetle remains such a beloved classic. Nothing else sounds like it does. Nothing else really looks like it. Everybody knows about it.

You can’t call it a unique experience, because by definition something that’s unique is one of a kind. A Beetle can never be one of a kind; it’s one of millions. It’s still just a really special car. The kind to make you smile.

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The post Unique? Maybe not, but the vintage VWs are definitely special appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Amid the constant moment-to-moment shifts in the collector car market all that, it’s important to keep in mind the bigger story of how the landscape is changing over the long term. Which brings us to this 1977 VW Bug, which spent much of its life on static display at a Van Nuys, California Volkswagen dealership. Barrett–Jackson sold it in 2012, with 108 miles showing on the odometer, for $26,400. Ten years and 29 miles later, it sold on Bring a Trailer last week for $51,000. Even accounting for inflation, that’s nearly thirty percent higher.

Hagerty Insider began in 2019 as a six-times-a-year magazine, evolving into a 24/7 website covering quarterly Hagerty Price Guide updates, monthly Market Ratings, on-the-scene coverage of major auctions, Sales of the Week like you’re reading here, and a constant stream of auction reports (977 and counting), Insider zeroes in on what the collector car market is doing right now to better inform your buying and selling decisions going forward.

We’ll admit we don’t quite get the thrill of a classic car that’s never really been driven—especially one that is, going by production numbers, the least rare vehicle on the planet. Yet this frozen-in-time Beetle makes for a perfect “control” by which to study the changes in the market over the past decade.

The clearest shift is in the online auction world. Our friends at eBay Motors and Craigslist will note that plenty of old cars sold on the internet back in 2012. If you were determined enough, you could have figured out how to bid remotely at that Barrett-Jackson sale. Yet the two listings for this Beetle remind us how far online car buying has come in terms of access and sophistication. Take the photography—four poorly lit snaps for the older sale versus more than 200 professional-quality images for the more recent one. Such photography has pretty much become par for the course. So has the level of activity observed on the BaT listing: The Beetle, currently residing in Florida, got 98 comments and eight bids before going to a collector who appears to be based in Illinois; the underbidder immediately moved on to a Shelby Super Snake in New York.

Then there’s the growth in value. A VW Beetle is not an emerging classic like a Skyline GT-R or an E30 M3. It was, ten years ago, a widely admired classic and a cultural touchstone, just as it is today. If anything, this is the sort of “Boomer car” that is supposed to stagnate as the folks who remember the Summer of Love and whatnot slow their participation in the market. Instead, Hagerty Price Guide values for 1977 Beetles in excellent (#2) condition have nearly quadrupled since 2012, with Gen–X and younger collectors now accounting for the majority of interest in the model, per our insurance data. Although the appreciation has no doubt accelerated during the pandemic, it was already happening beforehand. Note that the first major leap was in 2019—considered, in retrospect, to be a slow period for the market.

The collector car market currently finds itself in a fascinating moment. Will the incredible growth we’ve seen in 2022 continue? If it doesn’t, will it pull back, and how far? Will bidders descend upon Kissimmee and Scottsdale in two months time eager to spend or hunting for deals? These are important questions, and you can be sure we’ll be asking them here in the coming weeks. But we shouldn’t ignore the larger trends, such as how the internet has transformed buying and selling, how younger collectors are jumping into nearly every segment, and how, as a result, our cars are almost continuously becoming more valuable.

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VinFast going hard after electric SUV market

Intake: VinFast, the young (2017) Vietnamese auto builder, made a full-court assault on the Los Angeles Auto Show, displaying four electric SUVs. From the smallest to the largest, they were the VF6, VF7, VF8, and VF9, and the company offered ride-alongs in the five-passenger VF8 outside the convention center to prove it was real. The 6 and 7 should be available in 2023, but the 8 and 9 are pretty much ready—in fact, VinFast just delivered the first VF8s to customers in Vietnam, with the next batch of 5000 headed out globally, including to California, a state in which the company has six stores. The VinFast VF8 has two versions, Eco and Plus. The VF 8 Eco version is equipped with a 260-kW electric motor with maximum torque of 369 lb-ft. The SUV’s maximum range is 260 miles. The VF8 Plus is equipped with a 300-kW motor with 457 lb-ft of torque and can run up to 248 miles.

Exhaust: VinFast is a very aggressive company with lots of money backing it. It also has a lot of fresh ideas, such as a 10-year, 125,000-mile warranty and a battery subscription option that basically keeps you in batteries for the life of the car. It is a company to watch as it spread east of California. –Steven Cole Smith

Abarth unveils factory restomod 500

Intake: Abarth has built a special one-off to pay tribute to the 100th anniversary of the speedy Autodromo di Monza. Based on a 1970 Fiat 500, the car has a name longer than its wheelbase: Abarth Classiche 500 Record Monza ’58, which also commemorates a unique week in February 1958 when Abarth broke six-speed and endurance records at the famous Italian circuit.

The car is painted in the same green as the ’58 record-setter, while the interior fabrics and trim have reverted to that of the very first 1957 Fiat 500. There’s a single racing seat inside, a wonderful wooden steering wheel, and Jaeger dashboard that features a unique clock. The floor is bare and the fabric roof is replaced with sheet metal to aid aerodynamics, while a pair of extra spotlamps add illumination. The tiny, twin-cylinder motor was used to develop an updated Abarth Classiche 595 tuning kit, increasing capacity to 595 cc. It’s based on the original version from 1963. Included are new pistons and cylinder liners, valve springs, camshaft, a Weber carburetor, new sump, and exhaust, all delivered in a wooden box for €1952 ($2001). The car is the latest creation from Stellantis Heritage as part of its Reloaded by Creators project.

Exhaust: Fair play to Stellantis, née FCA, for embracing its heritage and supporting fans of its classics great and small. The conglomerate offers not only a crate Hellephant engine for Mopar lovers but this tuning kit for the tiny 500–and if you don’t want to get your hands dirty you can even get Officine Classiche technicians to fit it for you. —Nik Berg

Hans-Joachim Stuck’s Batmobile could be yours

Intake: German racer Hans-Joachim Stuck was BMW’s original Batman, piloting the 3.0 CSL to victory in the 1973 Nürburgring 6 Hours, before going on to Formula 1 and World Sports Car duties. This second-generation CSL in Chamonix White was the 31st of 57 examples built, and it was delivered to BMW’s M division for test purposes and then provided on a long-term loan basis to Stuck, who told Auto Motor und Sport magazine that it “felt as if it were a piece of myself.” In 1974 BMW sold the car to Stuck’s friend, World Cup Alpine Ski racer Christian Neureuther, who kept it for three years. It has since had a number of enthusiastic owners, been exhibited at the prestigious Villa d’Este concours, and had much money spent on it. Classic car specialist Kidston has it listed with price on application.

Exhaust: As a race car the 3.0 CSL was unbeatable, thanks in no small part to the wings that earned it the Batmobile moniker. “Our Capris then had no chance. I watched the BMWs disappear into the distance,” said works Ford driver John Fitzpatrick. To own a road car that was driven by a BMW works driver is a rare opportunity indeed and will, no doubt, be reflected in the asking price.—NB

And now for a real fake Batmobile …

Intake: This isn’t a real Batmobile, and we know because it’s right-hand-drive. Otherwise, this is a 2001 Toyota Avalon that someone went to a lot of work and expense to create something that is, we’ll admit, different. It’s up for auction in England on December 7. “Here is something you don’t see everyday,” understates the listing. “Fitted with fabricated rear wings and painted in black with red decals, side exhaust pipes, custom interior and a flashing flame thrower light and siren. This “Batmobile” was driven some 182 miles to the sale room; it is reported that, as expected, the car turned heads everywhere it went. The 3.0-liter V-6 provides plenty of power and provides a fabulous noise through the exhaust pipes, paired with famous Japanese reliability.”

Exhaust: Luckily, it’s a no reserve auction! —SCS

Volkswagen pickup a no-go

Intake: VW dealers have been waiting (im)patiently for a pickup truck of any sort to sell, and they thought was they might get one based on the upcoming Scout platform. Ain’t happening, says Automotive News, after a roundtable with VW executives at the L.A. Auto Show. “Thomas Schäfer, newly installed global head of the Volkswagen brand, says the platform being developed for the nascent Scout brand is not in VW’s future, at least not in this decade.

“‘At the moment, our focus on the lineup doesn’t include it,’ said Schäfer, who started his new job three months ago. ‘Then again, in the American market, if you don’t play in certain segments, then you have to stay in a certain market-share area. But the question of [using the Scout platform] is not our priority at the moment.'”

Exhaust: Too bad. After seeing what VW did with its new minivan, we’d love to see its take on a small pickup. —SCS

Ford recalls 453K F-150s, Tesla recalls 321K Model 3s and Model Ys

Intake: Ford is issuing a recall for nearly 454,000 F-150 pickups from the 2021 and 2022 model years due to a potentially faulty windshield wiper motor that could burn out and stop working. This is the second recall issued around the wiper motor faults—Ford also issued a recall back in March for 157K F-150s for the same problem, but it appears that the first one did not cast a wide-enough net. Ford told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that it would begin sending letters to owners of potentially affected trucks beginning early next year. The company said that it is not aware of any injuries or crashes related to the issue, and it believes only about one percent of the total vehicle count could contain the faulty component.

Meanwhile, Tesla is issuing a recall for nearly 322,000 Model 3 and Model Y electric vehicles. This recall is due to tail lamps that could fail to light up under normal operating conditions. According to the NHTSA recall document, the issue stems from a “firmware anomaly that may cause false fault detections during the vehicle wakeup process” which could cause the tail lamps to intermittently illuminate. The recall notes that brake lamps, turn signal lamps, and backup lamps are not affected by this issue. The issue was first reported in foreign markets in late October, and following an internal investigation, Tesla issued the voluntary recall earlier this month. Tesla will deploy an over-the-air (OTA) update to correct the firmware anomaly that caused this failure.

Exhaust: Both these recalls have safety implications, so it’s good to see the automakers wasting little time to get them remedied. Ford’s recall still requires a dealership visit, but that Tesla fix is rather impressive; an automaker able to rectify a firmware issue with a few lines of code blasted out over the interwebs? Welcome to the future, baby. —Nathan Petroelje

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Rather than tout the electric reboot of its beloved Minibus at the industry’s biggest aftermarket show, SEMA, VW is jazzing up an internal-combustion model that’s rather long in the tooth.

The GLI is essentially the GTI’s powertrain dropped into the long-running Jetta sedan, based on the same MQB architecture as the outgoing Mk. 7 Golf. The first such “GTI with a trunk” appeared in 1984, and this current version in 2019; three years into its sixth generation, this hot-rodded SEMA “GLI Performance Concept” of VW’s own hot-rod Jetta is a product of the company’s California design center .

In good ol’ SEMA fashion, VW dipped into aftermarket kit for the GLI Performance Concept: Though the new valances, flared fenders, and vinyl wrap are in-house, the powertrain has a heavy dose of RacingLine’s tuning mojo.

(The shop was originally Volkswagen Motorsport UK, founded in 1997 as a fully owned subsidiary of VW Group AG. It won the British Rally Championship with a 285-hp Golf that year, and handles VW factory racing efforts to this day. It also supports a VW performance parts catalog as a tier-1 partner of the Group.)

A cold-air intake and an intercooler bump output of the EA888 turbo-four from 228 hp and 258 lb-ft above Golf R levels: 350 hp and 372 lb-ft of torque. The transmission is the factory-offered six speed manual, fitted with an upgraded performance clutch. Brakes are also via RacingLine: six-piston calipers clamping exotic (in the world of entry-level VWs) carbon-ceramic discs. A set of coilovers was practically guaranteed, VW choosing RacingLine’s TrackSport setup with fully adjustable solid top mounts and a “slammed” setup. A set of 20-inch Rotiform Aerodiscs—a common sight among the late-model, “drop it low” crowd on Instagram—complete the look.

The interior features two Recaro’s Pole Position ABE buckets, its most race-oriented street seat, and a custom shift knob. (Don’t get your hopes up for actual buttons on the steering wheel, though. Those aren’t due until 2024.)

VW’s attending SEMA 2022 with an admirable blend of retro and modern, and we aren’t only looking at this GLI when we say that: an Oettinger-fettled Mk8 GTI will in attendance, alongside a 2004 R32 and a fascinating ’90s rally prototype (the A59) built to satisfy homologation for the 1994 FIA World Rally Championship. (Sadly, it never entered the series.) A pair of overlanding builds based on current models—an Atlas and a Tiguan, its volume-selling SUVs—acknowledge VW’s present, and trio of ID.4s in various off-road gear nod to the future of the brand.

It’s the mix of heritage and disciplines we love to see at SEMA … hopefully GM and Ford, who each skipped the show this year, get inspired.

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Whether it’s a fun weekend cruiser or back-road runner, a manual transmission adds a whole lot to the driving experience. More direct engagement between driver and machine goes a long way. That’s especially true when our beloved collector cars are a tonic for the more clinical, modern daily driver.

In many cases, the personality of a car can shift considerably without a sluggish torque converter in the mix. A clutch and a third pedal don’t have to cost big bucks, either. No matter the number of speeds, we bet there’s something you can find out there that would make a fine next addition to your collection.

1997 BMW Z3

Asking Price: $8300

Whether you want to go top-town, top-up, or hardtop, this low-mileage Z3 has you covered (or uncovered)! The 1.9-liter roadster is finished in Boston Green with a well-kept beige leather interior and shows fewer than 100,000 miles on the odometer. Its flywheel, clutch, and pressure plate were apparently replaced about five years ago, and its slave cylinder was replaced about a year after, so it should have plenty of more miles of happy shifting yet to give. In this lightweight, four-cylinder roadster, the engagement from a manual is a key ingredient.

1974 VW/Corsair Stripper

Asking price: $11,000

According to the seller, this early ‘80s dune buggy is one of about 150 built by Corsair during the ‘80s. Those numbers make it rare, but the fact that it’s a VW-based dune buggy that isn’t trying to copy a Meyers Manx puts it in a completely different category. The unique concept behind the Stripper was that it used a steel tube chassis rather than lots of buggies that used a shortened VW Beetle floor pan as the chassis. The idea was that the car could be run on the dunes without the body as a sand rail, and the body could be installed for use on the street. We just like the way the swoopy creation looks, with its louvered rear hatch making a perfect late-‘70s and early-‘80s styling statement.

1988 Chevrolet Corvette

Asking Price: $11,500

C4 Corvettes are a bit underrated. They have clean styling, a competent chassis, pop-up headlights, and, most important, a digital dashboard. Who needs a mid-engine platform when you’ve got a digital tachometer that looks like it came from an arcade game? This 1988 Corvette has had significant maintenance, including a new clutch, pressure plate, and flywheel so that the next owner can enjoy shifting the 4+3 Doug Nash transmission for many miles to come. Most of the accessories and the serpentine belt is new, along with a new Magnaflow cat-back exhaust to help that Tuned Port Induction 350 sing. You could certainly spend a lot more money on a car that’s nowhere near as rewarding to drive.

1978 Chevrolet Camaro

Asking Price: $13,900

By 1978, the Camaro’s factory engine offerings weren’t much to write home about, with the top offering sputtering out just 170 hp. The body style was still quite sleek, however, making them just as good a project car as earlier second-generation Camaros. Luckily this car up for offer in Homestead, Florida, has a fresh 350 under the hood that replaced its 145-hp 305. Now with over twice the power, rowing the gears is even more fun.

Of course, we also have to mention the blue-on-blue, Canadian tuxedo look. We love it, and not just because Jay Leno is one of our writers. The paint has been refreshed, but that interior is original. We dare you to fight the urge to suit up in jeans and a chambray shirt when getting behind the wheel of this classic.

1989 Ford Mustang GT

Asking Price: $22,500

The lightweight Fox-body platform is like a Swiss Army knife and can be put into a variety of roles depending on the driver’s need. Their massive popularity and vast aftermarket of parts to choose from meant that they became the go-to chassis to build into a drag car, track toy, and everything in between. That also means that it has become increasingly more difficult to find clean examples of Mustangs from the ‘80s that didn’t turn into highly modified hot rods. Even this seemingly pristine example has been modified, in this case from automatic to manual transmission. However, if the right factory parts were used, and proper care was taken, this conversion could be seamless. We especially like this Cabernet Red over Titanium two-tone convertible because it does look like a well-maintained original as the interior as well as under the hood has aged quite nicely.

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VW ID. Buzz gets first camper conversion

Intake: Volkswagen #vanlife has been electrified. Mere months after the ID. Buzz was unveiled German firm Ququq has released a plug-and-play camper conversion that costs less than $3,000. The BusBox-4 slots into the rear cargo area and features a slide-out camp kitchen, and a lofted bed for two. There’s room for freshwater storage and a coolbox as well. The box weighs less than 150 pounds so shouldn’t impact the range of the ID. Buzz too much. In fact to prove its practicality the company has already covered almost 22,000 miles on a road trip through 20 different European countries.

Exhaust: This is a neat and cheap solution for those who can’t wait to explore the outdoors in their new ID. Buzzes, but realistically it’s more suited for quick getaways than grand adventures. Expect many more conversions to follow, with pop-tops, awnings and sleeping for the whole family. —NB

Kia shows second-generation Niro

Intake: Kia’s versatile second-generation Niro SUV plug-in hybrid goes on sale this fall with slightly larger dimensions and a roomier cabin, but despise its beefier size, has a 25-percent greater all-electric range of 33 miles. It’s powered by a 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine coupled with a 62 kW electric motor, giving the Niro Plug-in Hybrid a combined 180 horsepower and 195 lb.-ft of torque. Power is sent to the front wheels via a six-speed dual clutch transmission. When connected to a Level 2 charger, the Niro PHEV can refill its 11.1-kWh lithium-ion polymer battery in under three hours. It’s priced at $33,740, excluding a $1,295 destination charge.

Exhaust: Stronger, lighter and more powerful for 2023, the Kia Niro plug-in hybrid is a nice starter car for customers moving gingerly away from ICE vehicles — it’s a hybrid, but it also offers 33 miles of all-electric driving, which is more than the average American drives in a day. Kia hasn’t announced pricing on the all-electric Niro model for 2023, but Automotive News claims the regular Niro hybrid will be priced at $27,785, including destination, an increase of $1800 over 2022. —Steven Cole Smith

BMW partners with AirConsole to bring gaming inside the cockpit

Intake: “Collection of single- and multiplayer games to make every waiting situation in the vehicle an entertaining experience,” says the press release, which kind of sums it up. AirConsole is a gaming platform which fits the BMW Curved Display and offers a “large and diverse catalogue of games.” The games run directly inside the vehicle entertainment system. The AirConsole technology enables games to be instantly delivered over-the-air, and you can control them using smartphones. “This will make every waiting situation inside the vehicle, such as charging, an enjoyable moment,” said Stephan Durach, senior vice president, BMW Group Connected Company Development. Scan a QR code in the vehicle, and you’re hooked up. The games play only if the car is in Park.

Exhaust: Games on the AirConsole roster include “Real Estate Challenge,” “ClusterPuck Challenge” and “Zombie Annihilation.” Oddly missing is “Pong” and “Super Mario.” AirConsole will roll out first on the 7 Series, then trickle down to the other 2023 models. —SCS

GM’s new business unit wants to transform your Ultium EV

Intake: General Motors unveiled a new business unit yesterday, called GM Energy. The new business unit will provide customers with “energy management services” that will enable you to interact with your Ultium-powered EV, your home, and the broader energy grid to help improve your electric experience. GM Energy will offer solutions like bi-directional charging, vehicle-to-home (V2H), and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) applications. If your EV is topped off at night, the new solutions will allow your EV to charge your home, or even sell power back to the grid if you have a surplus at any given time. If your area experiences a power outage, your Silverado EV will one day be able to keep the lights on at home. GM says it already has several large-scale companies such as SunPower, a solar technology firm, signed on to help develop home battery, solar panel, and energy systems.

Exhaust: The American power grid has been a hot topic of discussion as electric vehicles continue to grow in popularity and severe weather events, such as Hurricane Ian, become more frequent. We’ve all seen the stories of Ford’s F-150 Lightning powering homes during power outages, and GM isn’t about to let Ford have all the fun. A business unit offering integrated, easy-to-use solutions that help mitigate the effects of power interruptions sure seems like a solid pursuit in our eyes. Earning a few extra bucks by selling extra power back to the grid doesn’t seem so bad either. As EVs continue to shift the role that vehicles play in our lives, expect to see these sorts of expanded business units pop up with greater frequency at the hands of automakers. —Nathan Petroelje

Jeep Avenger to debut at the Paris Auto Show

Intake: The good news: The cute little Jeep Avenger, the brand’s first battery electric vehicle, will debut at a press conference at the Paris Auto Show on Monday. The bad news: That’s about as close as we’ll get to it. The Avenger’s stand “will display an energetic, vibrant, and visually dynamic look featuring a rock crawling display, to provide the right staging for the media and public reveal of the Jeep Avenger.  The all-electric Jeep Avenger will offer Jeep brand capability that is rightsized for the European market delivering a targeted electric range of 400 kilometers (249 miles), combined with modern and technologically advanced interior, with plenty of space for people and cargo.”  The Jeep Avenger is a “milestone for our growth plans in key European markets, such as France, and on our path to becoming the leading zero-emission SUV brand in the world.”

Exhaust: Jeep is serious about this electric business. In countries such as Germany and France, the Jeep brand offers only electrified SUVs and by the end of the year in almost all of the major markets in Continental Europe will offer only electrified SUVs. “As a result of this product onslaught, all the Jeep vehicles on sale in the region will be 100 percent electric by 2030.” —SCS

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Welcome to Homegrown—a new limited series about homebuilt cars and the ingenuity, diligence, and craftsmanship of their visionary creators. Know of a killer Homegrown car that fits the bill? Send us an email at tips@hagerty.com with the subject line HOMEGROWN: in all caps. Enjoy, fellow tinkerers! -Eric Weiner

After completing a couple of projects, including a Lamborghini Countach built from a kit, Bryan Ferguson sought a machine capable of astonishing his circle of car enthusiasts. Upon discovering that a Chevy small-block was cheaper than hotting up the flat-four in his ‘72 VW Beetle, his course of action was set: in January 2019, Ferguson began constructing a V-8 “peoples’ car” in his garage.

Growing up Ferguson dreamed of becoming a professional baseball player. Knowing that such hopes seldom pan out, his wise father encouraged him to prepare Plan B. So, Ferguson followed high school with mechanics classes at a vocational school, acquiring skills he’s used ever since.

“Dad was right,” this 60-year-old craftsman confirms. “Once I became a professional mechanic, I never looked back!” Ferguson spent his career working as an automotive technician for the local Post Office. As a service to his community, he is also the current Chairperson of the Board of Police Commissioners for the city of Detroit.

Beetle hot rods are nothing new, but Ferguson’s home-built Bug is especially creative. The standard approach to marrying a V-8 to a Beetle is to erect the concoction atop a Chevy S-10 pickup frame. Knowing he could do better, Ferguson designed his own chassis from scratch. “My perimeter frame made out of 2×2- and 2×4-inch welded steel tubing keeps my engine from poking like an iceberg out of the hood,” he explains. “Casual observers don’t realize what they’re up against at until they discover my V-8 emblem or hear the rock and rumble out the back.”

Ferguson bought a wrecked ’69 Camaro to obtain the 350-cubic-inch V-8 and Turbo Hydra-Matic 350 automatic he needed. That car’s front subframe and control arm suspension integrated neatly with his tubular support structure. A GM 10-bolt rear axle with a 3.73:1 drive ratio was narrowed seven inches and secured with three trailing links and a Panhard rod. The GM recirculating-ball steering gear guiding the front wheels is power-assisted and connected to a tilt-and-telescope Camaro column and Grant flat-bottomed steering wheel. The disc/drum brake system incorporates a Toyota master cylinder and vacuum booster.

Centerline aluminum wheels carry Continental Pro Contact radials in front (size 155/60R-15) and Firestone Firehawk Indy gumballs in back (size 295/50R-15). Ferguson constructed a 3-inch exhaust system out of stainless steel.

For the bodywork, Ferguson bought his Beetle years ago in running condition. If the standard VW resembles an undersized running back, his 4-inch windshield chop with stock height rear roof pillars yield the look of a hunkered offensive lineman. The wide fenders and adjoining sills are fiberglass moldings. Modern-era BMW kidney grilles, along with a lower opening, feed air to the radiator and transmission fluid cooler. The sparkling headlamps are LED units designed for use in Jeeps while the teardrop taillamps are trailer components.

Ferguson sprayed the black urethane exterior finish at 4:00 a.m., when it was cold, to keep the insects in his garage paint booth at bay.

This master scrounger equipped his cockpit with buckets from a VW GTI, an aftermarket dash panel, and a homemade center console. Ferguson stitched the fresh upholstery, including a few red threads, to accent the black interior theme. The custom windshield and side glass are about the only components Ferguson didn’t construct personally in his garage. Start to finish, he needed just under a year to get his V-8 Beetle running. At the 2020 Detroit Autorama, Ferguson earned a first place trophy in the radical customs class.

The result is something that would definitely lift Dr. Porsche’s eyebrow a notch or two: 300 horsepower combined with an 1850-pound curb weight. “Wheelspin is never a concern,” Ferguson notes. “When I nail the throttle, the sticky rear tires are so nicely loaded they leap my car smartly into the next block.”

Behind many a sports car sorcerer you’ll find a patient spouse. Ferguson’s wife imposed only one rule. No work after 10 p.m. or on Sundays. Now that it’s done, she forbids the sale of this particular project: “Considering everything he built in our garage over the years, this VW V-8 impresses me the most.”

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No, we didn’t forget about the U.S. market Harlequin, the one based on the Golf. However, our patchwork-paneled wonder wouldn’t have existed had its slightly smaller, Euro-market sibling not set the precedent. Enjoy the view from the other side of the pond! —Ed. 

Some of the best inventions were created by mistake. Penicillin, the Slinky, the pacemaker, Post-it notes, the microwave oven, and safety glass, to name just a few. Then there’s the Volkswagen Polo Harlequin—or Harlekin, if you’re reading this in Europe.

Okay, the Harlequin wasn’t a mistake in the traditional sense. It wasn’t the result of an illicit affair involving Mr. Passat and Mrs. Golf. Workers on the Wolfsburg production line didn’t get the instructions for the third-generation (6N) Polo horribly wrong. The car—the Harlekin name came later—was born out of the need for a sales tool, designed to showcase the new Polo’s modularity and personalization options.

There were four colors: green for paintwork, blue for engine and chassis, yellow for interior and red for special equipment. Building blocks, which can be seen on this fan site, designed to promote the Polo’s strapline of so vielseitig konn klein sein, or, “small can be so versatile.” Legend has it that a bunch of trainees came up with the idea of creating a fleet of ten Polos in 1994 to showcase the modular system better than any brochure could do, with a further ten following in 1995. The multi-coloured Polo, complete with mismatched wheels, appeared in dealer literature, customer-facing adverts and on phonecards (remember them?), and Volkswagen even produced a thousand 1:87 scale models. Cue a rush to open Germany eBay starting in one, two … you’ve already gone, haven’t you?

If you’re still here, you’ll be pleased—and perhaps a little surprised—to discover that the story didn’t stop there. The Germans hadn’t been this excited about something since The Scorpions hit number one across Europe with the whistle-tastic “Wind of Change” and began pestering dealers for a production version of Germany’s Amazing Technicolor Dreamboat. Sensing an opportunity, VW’s marketing bods set to work creating a Polo Harlekin for the 1995 Frankfurt Motor Show, where it somehow managed to outshine the Mitsubishi Carisma. Lotus also unveiled something significant at the event, but the name escapes us.

Four cars were removed from the production line: one in Chagall Blue, another in Pistachio Green, one in Yellow, and the other Flash Red, before rising like chameleons from the, er, flames of desire. Frankfurt was treated to a spectacle that looked like something created by a body shop when you answered “yes” when asked which color you’d like.

That should have been the end of the story. Aside from some mildly amused guffawing in Frankfurt and a few column inches in the motoring press, the United Colors of They Did What? could (should?) have been consigned to the Big Book of German Automotive Sales and Marketing History. But this was little more than a prelude to the main event.

Volkswagen planned a run of 1000 cars, complete with consecutive serial numbers, certificate, and numbered key rings. Then it appeared in the U.K., land of the Carry On films, end-of-the-pier jokes, and Mr. Blobby. It was a match made in heaven. Flanked by single-colored versions of the Volkswagen Polo and Golf at London Motorfair, the four-color Polo stood out like a … well, a four-color Polo. You’ll note from the overhead photo that the roof, C-pillar, and sills are Flash Red; this would have been the car’s original color before it was whipped from the production line to be turned into the automotive equivalent of Neapolitan ice cream. A case of here today, cone tomorrow, or something.

This was a “Version 4” car, which came with a Yellow tailgate, front doors, and front bumper, Pistachio Green rear doors, bonnet, and rear bumper, and Chagall Blue front wings and grille. Customers were unable to specify a color combination, with Volkswagen promoting this restriction as “an element of surprise.” In reality, it was probably due to the company not wanting a surplus of body shells and panels in Wolfsburg.

Volkswagen made no secret of the car’s origins. In a press ad headlined by “No, honestly,” it said: “The Harlequin, as it’s called, started life as a car show gimmick to indicate the colors available.” It went on to promote the Polo range, before concluding: “We’ve even made one that runs on rabbit droppings.” Somebody must have discovered Wolfsburg’s sense of humour cupboard in the 1990s.

Based on the 1.4 CL, the Harlequin cost £11,095, which is the equivalent of £20,000 (~$22,600) in today’s money. For that, you got bespoke upholstery, driver’s airbag, GLX “sports” bumpers, clear indicator lenses, darkened rear lenses, and a guarantee that your neighbors would ask whether you’d bought a car from a traveling circus. Still, life’s too short to drive silver and grey cars; fair play to Volkswagen for adding a little color to our roads.

The best estimate is that Volkswagen built 3806 Harlequins, including the original batch of 1000, plus 500 raffled in a German McDonald’s promotion. Today, there are reportedly 17 on U.K. roads, with a further 41 listed as SORN. Interestingly, the Harlequins are registered with the DVLA as “multi-colored,” so this is something you might want to check if you’re looking at a fake car. Yes, they do exist.

Twenty-five years on from the launch of the Polo Harlequin, Volkswagen’s Dutch importer created a homage to the original using the current sixth-generation Polo. If nothing else, it shows how bloated small cars have become. Once again, Volkswagen insisted that it was a one-off and, 18 months on, it looks like the company is staying true to its word.

The Polo isn’t even the only example of Volkswagen going crazy with colors. Volkswagen North America produced a limited number of Mk3 Golf Harlequins for the 1996 show circuit, with a few cars supplied to the Summer Olympics in Atlanta. There are rumors that some of the cars were converted to single-color Golfs by a dealer in the city. What a killjoy.

We should also remember the classic Volkswagen advert of the 1960s, designed to showcase the interchangeable parts of the Beetle. Green wing blue bonnet, beige wing and turquoise door—it looks like something Mr. Tumble would drive. Check out the Mexican-built homage to the Beetle Harlequin, but don’t Google “Mr. Tumble car.”

Like anything bold or adventurous, the Polo Harlequin divides opinion. To some, it’s a novelty act in an otherwise dull but worthy of range of cars. To others, it’s a blot on the landscape that shouldn’t have made it out of Frankfurt. It’s neither as beneficial as penicillin or the pacemaker, nor as useful as the microwave or Post-it notes, but we’re glad the Polo Harlequin exists. It’s the Slinky of the car world—just don’t push it downstairs.

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Via Hagerty UK

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Most readers here know me for my ever-present posts on various and sundry domestic luxury cars from the Brougham Era. It’s true that I have a serious soft spot for those land yachts, with their power gadgets, Sierra grained leather, crushed cranberry red velour, landau tops, opera lamps, opera windows, and heraldic crests, but believe it or not, I do like other cars. Really.

Today I’m not going to delve too deeply into Volkswagen’s history in the 1950s, or into the Beetle in particular. You all know the story. In the early ’50s, VW sent Ben Pon to the U.S. to get some import sales moving. It was a pretty dismal failure. Even that import dealer genius, Max Hoffman, gave it a shot, but he sold only about 2000 Beetles and was dumped by VW. But then magic happened.

Despite its dated platform and negligable performance, the little VW took off after Wolfsburg set up a U.S. headquarters in New Jersey. People started buying them, word got around that they were robust and well assembled, sales snowballed, and the rest is history.

Despite having an approximately 20-year-old design as the ’60s approached, with running boards—running boards, for Pete’s sake!—VW was on a roll in Europe, in the U.S., and elsewhere.

By 1958–59, despite looking remarkably similar to its late-1930s iteration, many changes had been made. Heinz Nordhoff, VW’s chief at the time, had decided that regular improvements were necessary, but there should be no change simply for the sake of change. So the cars themselves did not look drastically different.

Despite its resemblance to the prewar “Kdf-Wagen,” by 1959 the Volkswagen sported many improvements. In the United States, MSRP for a Beetle sedan was $1545 ($15,730 today). The Karmann convertible, a much flossier model with fully insulated top and plusher interior, set you back $2045 ($20,821).

All those invisible changes were there though, for those who thought to look or read the dealer brochure. Among the various and sundry upgrades were larger rear window and windshield for better visibility, widened brake drums and shoes for improved stopping power and a revised engine lid.

Today’s featured “cool old car” was spotted on Arsenal Island (Illinois) in July 2014 by yours truly. I believe it is a 1958 model, but a Euro-spec variant, as the fender-top turn signal lamps were absent, but it has the larger glass area—especially the rear window, that started in ’58. This car still had the semaphore-style turn signals housed in the B-pillars. ’59s received a dished steering wheel, and the Wolfsburg crest was removed starting in 1963.

I was visiting the very cool Arsenal Museum at the time, and the VW just happened to be parked in the same lot. I had my mother’s 1995 Jaguar XJS out for a run, and it was cool to see a fellow non-beige beigemist or silver silvermist combover-type motor vehicle in the lot! The vintage luggage rack and period-correct luggage were a happy bonus. Brougham, VW, Datsun 510, or otherwise, old cars are cool. And fun!

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The long-awaited ID. Buzz electric VW van will go on sale in Europe before it comes to the U.S., and Hagerty UK sent veteran auto journalist Andy English on the first media drive. North America’s version will be slightly different and exclusively in long-wheelbase form, but given the immense hype around this reborn microbus we wanted to share Andy’s report. Enjoy!

Based on the sketches done by Dutch VW importer, Ben Pon in 1947, which in turn were based on a layout of the Plattenwagen (flattened car), a Beetle-based, mend-and-make-do Wolfsburg-factory transport designed by Major Ivan Hirst of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, the first Type 2 (Beetle was Type 1), went on sale in 1950. Developing new vehicles was a lot speedier in those days.

In the ensuing 73 years, the Microbus or “Bulli” as it is known in Germany, whether as a camper, pickup, bus, or van has become one of the most-loved VWs ever built—the people’s van if you like. It’s become part of the myths which VW tells itself; the Type 2 transported The Beach Boys, The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, The Who, and the Flower Power generation, and it was only in 2014 that new production of the second-generation “bay window” van version ceased in Brazil.

It’s been an itch which VW has found impossible not to scratch. All the way back to 1994 and the unveiling of Concept 1, which became the new Beetle, there were rumors of a new Type 2 on the cards. It wasn’t until 2001, however, that Volkswagen re-imagined its history with its Microbus concept presented at the wintery Detroit Auto Show. With its translucent rubber floors and plasma screens, combined with retro looks, the concept designed by Charles Ellwood at VW’s California design studios, carved a fine line between old and new. It was based on the mechanicals of the then-new front-engined T5 Transporter, but recalled the clattering, air-cooled campers and Kombis of yore. The reception was rapturous and the following year VW announced its imminent production, then promptly canceled it.

VW kept its thumb on the tease-em button, however, with the 2011 Bulli, the 2016 Budd-e, and the 2017 ID. Buzz, which were shown variously as microbuses, Kombis, vans, and campers, most of them standing not the slightest chance of production.

Perhaps we only get a couple of decent retro designs a decade; the Nineties saw Porsche’s Boxster (1993) and Volkswagen’s Concept 1 (1994), the Noughties saw Ford’s Mustang GT concept (2003) and Fiat’s Trepiùno (Cinquecento) concept (2004), there was the Alpine A110 in 2017 and the Mercedes G-Class in 2018, and in this decade, we’ve seen Renault’s 5 Electric concept and Volkswagen ID. Buzz, which is what I’m now sitting in, waiting to go. It’s been a long wait and even Jozef Kabaň, VW design director, says “it’s a relief to be able to show this vehicle off”.

With prices starting at £57,115 on the road, the ID. Buzz goes on sale this autumn with first deliveries early in the new year. Moving up the trim scale to the Style trim version will cost £61,915 and the launch 1^st Edition version will cost £62,995. The Cargo van version starts as the Commerce version at £38,125 without VAT, and rises to the Commerce Plus with radar-and-camera-based safety and parking assistance at £42,375.

Note here that this is not the Camper, which is the version we most associate with the Type 2 in the UK. You can buy an optional through-floor mattress and “cuckoo box,” which is a sort of camp kitchen, but as it stands ID. Buzz is a five-seater, and the van version has two or three seats. A seven-seat version will arrive next year and there’s also confirmation of four-wheel drive, larger batteries and a full Camper version on a longer wheelbase, which will mark the debut of the ID. Buzz in America, but they’re all to come.

Yes, it’s expensive, but in a world where the traditional MPV is the fastest disappearing market segment, it’s hard not to think that VW has reinvented the sector. Rivals are scarce, but there’s the seven to nine-seat Mercedes-Benz EQV, which costs from £71,760 with a 90kWh battery giving a 211-mile range, or the Vauxhall Vivaro E-Life which costs from £34,645 and seats up to nine, with the 50kWh battery giving a range up to 143 miles. Compared to the ID. Buzz, however, these have all the appeal of an airport courtesy shuttle.

Oh, and did I mention it looks fabulous? Treading that fine line between pastiche and reminiscence, it has its own character to boot. It’s big though. While the original 1950 Type 2 was 4280mm long, 1720mm wide and ran on a 2.4-meter wheelbase, this version is 4712mm long, 1985mm wide and has a 2988mm wheelbase.

Weighed down

It’s also heavy, which in turn impacts how much it can carry. It is certified for a maximum GVWR of 3000 kg, and with a 2470-kg (5445-pound) curb weight that means a max payload of 530 kg, or 1168 pounds. (The Cargo van gets a payload of 650 kg, or 1433 pounds.) That’s not great, especially when you consider the original Type 2 had a payload of 750 kg (1653 pounds).

Fill all the seats with large adults and you’re left with a payload capacity of 190 kg (418 pounds) to sling into the massive 1121 liters (39.5 cu ft) of load space. Fold the rear seats and you get 2205 liters (77.86 cu ft). VW also claims the commercial is exempt from the current regulations that restrict vans over 2040 kg to 60 mph on dual carriageways.

All of this might explain why VW restricted seating in the ID .Buzz to five people. It will also tow up to 2200 pounds and the Cargo van has space for two 1.2 metre (4-foot) Euro pallets in the back, though if you’re carrying more than horse feathers, you might be better off choosing the higher payload of a conventional-engined van.

Underpinning the ID. Buzz is VW’s MEB rear-drive battery electric structure and this is the largest vehicle on this platform so far. The battery is the largest currently available on the MEB platform, a 77kWh net lithium-ion unit, powering a 201 hp/228 lb-ft electric motor which drives the rear wheels via a single drop-down gear. It gives a top speed of 90 mph with 0-62 mph achieved in 10.2 sec.

Range is quoted at 258 miles, though driving gently I saw just 208 miles. There’s an 11kW onboard charger and the battery can be charged at up to 170kW on a DC charger. Charge times are 21 minutes for an 80 per cent charge on an appropriately fast DC charger and 10.5 hours on a 7.4kW home wall box.

Efficiency is quoted at 3.35 miles per kilowatt-hour, though in use we could only coax it to 2.9 miles/kWh. And while ID. Buzz emits zero emissions at the tailpipe, generating that electricity means it has well-to-wheels CO2 emissions of 35.2g/km.

Inside the cabin

Back to the cabin, where the dash presents a feast of fabulous surfacing and pleasant-to-touch non-leather upholstery. Students of the old models will recognize the “wood” surfacing on the dash from the old Type 2 Bay Window. At the wheel, the old Transporter’s driving position over the front axle is a thing of the past and in some senses, you are so far back from the windscreen it feels like the much-missed Renault Espace.

There’s so much love gone into the cabin, with double height shelving, clever slots for your mobile phone, fold-out and suitably large mug holders, and a flat floor between driver and front-seat passenger which is lovely and reminiscent of the old Type 2.

We’re not so keen on the exclusive use of USB-C charge slots, much loved by the techies but nonetheless implying you’re going to throw out all your old charge cables. That’s far from the peace-‘n-love hippie vibe of the old Transporter. And while you can get a high luggage space frame to make a complete through bed, it’s a bolt-in feature, which will take a couple of hours to remove—not exactly the stuff of a quick getaway on a tour of Europe.

Still, the sliding rear doors shut with that clunky thump of the old vans and the top-hinged tailgate makes a superb rain shelter for wet picnics. You sit almost 900 mm (2.95 feet) off the ground with panoramic views out thanks to the large front screen and quarter lights. The seats are large and comfortable and in the back there’s loads of head and leg room. The wheel at each corner stance and the hefty curb weight makes for a stable and solid-feeling driving experience. While you wouldn’t want to throw the ID. Buzz around, I did (so you don’t have to) and can report that it’s safe and trustworthy, with stability systems which cut in gently and a tendency to nose-on understeer if you find yourself careering into a tightening corner on the way to San Jose.

Sadly, it’s not all brilliant and the old bugbear of VW’s CARIAD touchscreen systems and software are stuck, like a smelly cat in the middle of the dash. Even changing the heater setting is the work of several keystrokes and good luck at night as the temperature and radio volume sliders aren’t illuminated. The system might now be stable with its latest 3.2 software upgrade, but it’s still pretty hopeless (and a subject close to many readers’ hearts, from what we can tell from your feedback).

And I’m sure I didn’t imagine this, but as I climbed into the cabin, the brake pedal wagged up and down in greeting, which was either a charming affectation in the control systems, or notice of trouble ahead.

Dynamically it feels quick off the line and powerful, with lots of acceleration at the squeeze of the progressive-feeling accelerator; a feature of all EVs where the motor produces all its torque right from when it first starts to spin. Uncorrupted by driveshafts, the steering is accurate and well weighted with a good on-centre response. VW boasts that the 20-inch (optional) tires are a full 750 mm (2.4 feet) in diameter and there’s a fair amount of sidewall to turn before the nose changes direction, but on the move, this isn’t a problem.

With four different driving modes, it’s mostly a case of progressively tightening up the steering and accelerator response. You almost always end up in Comfort which is the best compromise of lift off regeneration, accelerator response, and steering weight. Those big tires are quite noisy, even on Denmark’s smooth roads, and they set up a noisy “sproing” over sharp-edge holes and expansion joints.

With MacPherson-strut front and multi-link independent rear suspension, the ID. Buzz feels mostly long-legged and comfortable. It’s set up quite softly and the ride quality is smooth even though there’s a fidgety response from the rear at motorway speeds. With, say 200 miles between recharges, with the right fast-charge infrastructure, you could cover serious miles in this van.

And while it’s a big and heavy thing, maneuvering the ID. Buzz is much simpler than you might suppose, partly because it has the basics of good all-round visibility and large door mirrors to go with the panoply of bells, whistles, reversing cameras and warning lines on the screens.

Verdict

As a commercial proposition, the ID. Buzz isn’t going to have much appeal outside the promotional van/florist trades. A conventional three-tonne panel van will carry almost twice the weight of this machine with almost twice the range.

As family transport the ID. Buzz needs more seats and or more flexibility. It’s also selling into a market segment which rival manufacturers are fast deserting—Citroën withdrew its C4 Grand Spacetourer from sale this year for example. Yet somehow, and perhaps it’s the history or the long wait, or maybe the care that’s gone in, the ID. Buzz gets under your skin and you find yourself at the wheel, thinking of ways in which you could include this big, heavy, and expensive vehicle into your life.

For me, this van is a bit like seeing a litter of Newfoundland puppies, you know each one will cost a fortune to own, will come and “rescue” you every time you go swimming and will make you and everything you own smell of wet dog, but …

Take it from me, the ID. Buzz is irresistible. If you don’t want to own one, don’t go anywhere near it. Welcome back, Bulli.

Via Hagerty UK

***

2023 Volkswagen ID. Buzz

Price: TBD, $45,000–$55,000 est.
On sale: 2024 model year, expected late 2023.

Highs: Versatile, good-looking, with competent handling.

Lows: Expensive, could use more range, fussy infotainment.

Takeaway: Like the Type 2 of old, the VW ID. Buzz’s charms much outweigh its faults.

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The Manifold will take a hiatus this Monday, September 5, as Hagerty’s U.S. staff observes Labor Day. The usual news cadence will resume Tuesday, September 6. Craving some longer reads during the holiday weekend? Check out Hagerty Media’s homepage, which is always stocked with fresh fodder. 

Lotus’ new, online parts store supports cars from 1981-on

Intake: Despite its reputation for unreliability, Lotus claims that around 70 percent of all its cars are still on the road worldwide. To help maintain and even grow this number, the British sports car maker has launched a new online store selling parts and heritage items. Serving vehicles dating to 1981, models covered include the Esprit, Excel, Elise, Exige, and Evora with all components either NOS (new-old stock) or remanufactured to their original spec. Owners can filter their search on parts.lotuscars.com by model and also shop for merchandise and accessories such as car covers and key rings.

Exhaust: Unfortunately the new site won’t help Rob Siegel and his Europa, and for now the only items I could find for my Esprit were a battery charger and a fancy boxed certificated of provenance; but hopefully the list of parts for older cars will grow. In the meantime it’ll be prove very useful for hands-on Elise-era owners. –Nik Berg

VW serves U.S. 20th anniversary Golf R, hold the power bump

Intake: Volkswagen has announced 1800 special units of its all-wheel-drive hot hatch to celebrate 20 years of the R32 and of the Golf R badge. Frustratingly, the U.S. market does not get the 13-hp power bump served to Europe on its version of the same car, the “Golf R 20 Years.” We make do with a suite of mostly cosmetic tweaks: A sunroof delete saves a bit of weight, adds some headroom, and streamline the hatch’s roofline. Three colors are on offer: Lapiz Blue, Deep Black Pearl, and Pure White, with limited allocations of each color. On the white and black Golf R 20th A.E., the mirror caps are finished in Lapiz Blue; on the blue ones, in gloss black. Puddle lights project “20 R” onto the ground, and the “R” logos on the front and back are—you guessed it—blue. Special 20th Anniversary badges are fixed to the B-pillars. Inside, door trim and dash panel inserts are genuine carbon-fiber, a first for a production VW vehicle. The key fob also gets a special “R” logo, finished in blue as well. The 20th Anniversary Edition Golf R will arrive in dealers this fall with an MSRP of $44,940 for six-speed manual-equipped models, and $45,740 for those equipped with the seven-speed DSG dual-clutch automatic gearbox. Both prices exclude destination fees.

Exhaust: The Golf R has always been Volkswagen’s most pointed sporting machine, and to see it reach 20 years is a milestone worth celebrating. We’ve had a chance to spend some time with the understated AWD hatch in the snowy conditions of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and in the spring time on Ohio’s charming backroads; both times we found it an eager machine, if a bit saturated with tech better suited for an Audi. As the collector market begins to take note of earlier VR6-powered R32s, this nostalgia-flavored, warrantied offering almost looks a bargain. —Nathan Petroelje

Maserati’s electric GranTurismo slips into view, sans camo

Intake: “When I hear electric I don’t really hear fun. I hear boring,” says comedian. Sebastian Maniscalo just before he’s brutally forced back into his seat by the acceleration of the all-electric Maserati GranTurismo Folgore. Behind the wheel is the brand’s head of design Klaus Busse, who seems to have had quite an easy job: The new GranTurismo doesn’t look much different to the outgoing model, now that we see it sans camouflage for the first time. It’s under the hood where all the work has been done, swapping the engine (its specs remain undisclosed) for a 1200-hp tri-motor powertrain that will accelerate the Folgore from 0 to 60 mph in 2.6 seconds and on to a top speed beyond 200 mph. 100 miles of range can be added in ten minutes, says Busse. Not everything about the car is revealed in the video, of course—pricing, availability, and trim levels are TBA—Busse mentions a new “silky” recycled material for the cabin and that Maserati’s engine designers are working on the sound design for the car. Sometime next year, at the car’s launch, we’ll know more.

Exhaust: Jokes aside, this film is the first good look at the first fully electric sports car to come out of Italy (fans of $2M Pininfarina Battista will note use of “sports” rather than the prefix “hyper”). We expect it to be offered alongside a version powered by Maserati’s Nettuno V-6, which originated in the MC20 and appears in detuned form in the Grecale Trofeo. It will fascinating to find out which powertrain Maserati buyers prefer. –NB

Mercedes-Benz USA bets big on six-figure electric SUV

Intake: Though EQS SUV isn’t the first (or only) electric SUV Mercedes will offer in the United States, it is the only one manufactured on our shores. It promises to be by far the most expensive, too. Pricing for the rear-drive, 355-hp, 450+ model starts at $105,550. That’s the longest-range version, with an EPA-estimated rating of 305 miles. (All-wheel drive costs $3K extra and knocks range to 285 miles.) The more potent, 536-hp powertrain is designated “580,” and nets the dash-width, three-displays-in-one Hyperscreen (below). This model has a range of 285 miles and starts at $127,100. Whichever power/range combo you choose, trims boil down to Premium, Exclusive, or Pinnacle. How quickly do you want the front seats to heat your rear? Would you also like to be massaged? Is a head-up display non-negotiable? If you answered yes to all of those, you’re looking at a price tag between roughly $110K and $130K (depending on powertrain choice). Do your rear-seat passengers also insist on wireless charging? Tack on another $2K for the Pinnacle trim, which even gives those discerning second-rowers a MBUX tablet.

Exhaust: Production sites of the EQS SUV and its smaller sibling, the GLB-sized EQB, reveal Mercedes’ read of the American market—the higher end, at least. The bigger, more posh, and longer-ranged SUV will be built here; the EQB, which costs half as much and has a range between 220 and 250 miles, is shipped in from Hungary. As volume-oriented manufacturers scramble to democratize that kind of range, Benz cruises in calmer, surely more profitable waters. —Grace Houghton

Ford’s 9/14 Mustang reveal will be a (period dress) party

Intake: As if Ford’s Mustang Stampede—in which hundreds of Mustangs will convoy to the Detroit Auto Show on September 14 to see the unveiling of the seventh-generation Mustang—wasn’t compelling enough on its own, the company has added a “Best Stang Decade” costume party to the affair, inviting Mustang fans to dress up in period garb from the 1960s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, 2000s, 2010s or 2020s, whichever one had your favorite Mustang model, for moderately valuable prizes. To wit: First place, a two-year lease of the new, soon-to-be-revealed Ford Mustang GT; second place, an invite to the official media drive event to test the new Mustang on road and track, and third place, a ride with a Ford Performance driver on a Mustang hot lap. “Please join us by dressing up for the occasion to represent your favorite Mustang decade from the ’60s to today or recreate the most iconic Mustang moments in popular culture,” Ford says. “Dust off the bell bottoms! Bring out the boom boxes! Go grunge!” You can register here.

Exhaust: Those of us who have gone through life wearing jeans and a tee-shirt are in luck: We can recreate the 1960s through today with one simple wardrobe. –Steven Cole Smith

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Audi hints at 600+ hp Performance variant for RS6

Intake: Nobody who’s experienced the wallop of twin-turbo V-8, all-wheel-drive German muscle that is the RS6 would say the Audi wagon needed more power. But that’s the writing on the wall, according to a report from Australia’s Wheels. An Audi spokesperson recalled that the prior-gen RS6 was offered with a higher-output Performance variant and went on to say that, “We recently launched the R8 RWD as a Performance, so you can be pretty sure that we will follow up the Performance strategy [in the RS6].”

Exhaust: At present, the RS6 makes 591 hp and 590 lb-ft of torque, and it’s unclear how much a Performance variant would add. We know the powertrain has more to give, because the Lamborghini Urus’ version of the 4.0-liter engine has 641 hp. Given that the R8 Performance model swaps out its standard cast iron rotors and adjustable suspension for carbon-ceramics and a fixed-damper setup, in addition to gaining extra power, we’d expect similar changes for the RS6. Standard on the RS6 is an adaptive air suspension and conventional rotors, though a fixed-spring/adaptive damper setup and carbon-ceramics are optional. We’d expect these to be standard on the Performance version and for Audi to extend the same suite of upgrades to the mechanically similar, liftback RS7. —Eric Weiner

Subaru Outback tops IIHS’ more-rigorous side-impact test

Intake: The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety let it be known in 2019 that new and tougher side-impact tests were coming to further differentiate models and to challenge automakers to improve driver safety. (The current procedure is 15 years old, and, as of 2019, 99 percent of new models aced it.) The third trial-run of the new test has certainly upped the ante: Seven midsize cars, each of which earn a “good” rating under the old test, did not fare very well under the new. Only three of seven tested earned “good” or “acceptable” ratings. “The Subaru Outback is the only midsize car to earn a good rating,” said the IIHS. “With somewhat higher levels of occupant compartment intrusion, the Hyundai Sonata and Volkswagen Jetta managed acceptable ratings. The Honda Accord earned a marginal rating, and the Chevrolet Malibu, Nissan Altima, and Toyota Camry earned poor ratings.”  The more rigorous test, the IIHS said, uses a “higher impact speed [37, versus 31 mph] and a heavier [4200- vs. 3000-pound], more realistic movable barrier representing a more modern striking vehicle” than before. However, it won’t be integrated into IIHS’ official award criteria until 2023, when the Institute will require a “good” or “acceptable” rating for the lower-tier Top Safety Pick award and a “good” rating for the title of Top Safety Pick+.

Exhaust: The IIHS said that overall, the midsized cars did not perform as well as the first groups of small and midsized SUVS tested earlier under the more-aggressive procedure. “One reason,” the IIHS said, “could be their lower ride height.” That might explain why the more SUV-like Outback out-performed the other cars. Regardless, some manufacturers have some work to do. Check out the test results here. —Steven Cole Smith

Watch Nico Rosberg collect the first production Rimac Nevera

VW drops price of Chattanooga-built ID.4 electric SUV

Intake: Volkswagen has a new, cheaper, entry-level model of its 2023 ID.4 electric compact SUV that starts at $37,495 plus $1295 in shipping, with an all-new battery pack, upgraded exterior and interior design, new aluminum-alloy wheels, and an updated center console. Now assembled in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the ID.4 is offered in three trim levels—Standard/Pro, S, and S Plus—with the option of 62-kWh and 82-kWh batteries and rear-wheel- or all-wheel drive. The entry ID.4, now called the ID.4 Standard, is equipped with the new 62-kWh battery, allowing for a lower price of entry and a preliminary, manufacturer-estimated range of 208 miles with 201 horsepower. The ID.4 Pro continues with an 82-kWh battery that allows for an estimated range of 275 miles, while ID.4 AWD Pro models add an asynchronous motor to the front axle, resulting in a bump to 295 horsepower, and an EPA-estimated range of 255 miles. A loaded ID.4 tops out at $53,995, plus shipping, and before the potential $7500 federal tax credit.

Exhaust: Price reductions are always welcome, especially with EVs. That said, we’re torn: $3700 more per car would have gone a long way toward fixing a few of our complaints (nauseating suspension tune, poor interior quality) with the base ID.4. —Sam Smith

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Based on Volkswagen’s first-generation Golf (badged as the Rabbit in America) and named after a warm Mediterranean wind, the Scirocco debuted in North America in 1975 as an economical sport coupe with smart styling by Giorgetto Giugiaro. Essentially, it was to the new front-engine, liquid-cooled Golf as the previous Karmann Ghia was to the Beetle. Propelled by a transverse 1.5-liter SOHC inline-four, the Scirocco was a satisfying ride. And it was a substantial success, with a global production run exceeding 500,000 units through 1981.

Following the end of first-gen Scirocco production, VW immediately replaced it with the Mk II Scirocco for 1982. Longer and wider but based on the same chassis, its eight-valve inline-four SOHC engine grew from 1.5 liters and 74 horsepower at launch to 1.8 liters and 90 horsepower by 1984.

A pivotal moment for the Mk II Scirocco came in mid-1986, when Volkswagen dropped in its first-ever 16-valve inline-four. I attended the Mk II Scirocco’s press launch for Automobile, and compared with Volkswagen’s previous eight-valve Golf and Scirocco offerings, the 16-valve upgrade ignited the drive experience. Accompanying the new engine were a full aero body kit, a larger spoiler fitted midway up the backlight, and teardrop-shaped slotted wheels. New four-wheel disc brakes were standard; a power package, a sunroof, leather seating, and air conditioning were optional.

It’s hard to believe now, but four-valve combustion chambers in an alloy DOHC head were exciting technology at the time, and in the Scirocco 16V’s case, this resulted in 123 horsepower (37 percent more than its predecessor). Those ponies pulling 2287 pounds gave a power-to-weight ratio of 18.6 pounds per horsepower, theoretically netting the fastest, most powerful VW ever built. Despite the factory’s 124-mph top-speed claim, I saw just 110 mph in fourth while thrashing the Scirocco 16V on Phoenix International Raceway’s longest straightaway.

Shifting was improved, too, owing to a revised five-speed transaxle. On street duty, the 16V proved nearly as fun to row as a Toyota MR2.

Thanks to its performance-calibrated suspension and firm chassis, the Scirocco 16V made the most of its 185/60R14 Pirelli P6 tires. Today, adding a passenger and luggage will only further improve the ride. It helps that the power-assisted rack-and-pinion steering makes the 16V feel light, with only mild understeer at the limit. Aggressive driving still brings a trait familiar to certain FWD pilots—lifting the inside rear wheel while cornering.

A Mk II Scirocco of any year is a truly mechanical experience. Sure, the Bosch KE-Jetronic fuel injection and ignition contain electronics, but the rest of the car is all you. The steering offers good feedback, and the independent front and torsion-beam rear suspension will help you hustle the Scirocco through any twisties you encounter. Plus, the beam axle allows a low cargo-area floor, which expands the car’s utility.

Mk II Scirocco sales continued through 1988, with 291,497 units produced globally before the model was replaced in the U.S. by the upscale Corrado. Then a Scirocco Mk III arrived for 2008, lasting seven years and adding 280,000 more units. For a vintage experience on a budget, the 1986–88 Scirocco 16V remains as hot as its namesake wind. “Maserati? Ferrari? Lamborghini?” challenged a period Volkswagen ad. “Scirocco!”

This article first appeared in Hagerty Drivers Club magazine. Click here to subscribe and join the club.

The post What replaced the Karmann Ghia? VW’s <em>other</em> hot hatch, the Scirocco appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Will you fall for Tom Hanks’ Fiat?

Intake: A 1975 Fiat 128 driven by Tom Hanks in 2017’s The Post, and subsequently owned by the star, is now for sale in on Bring a Trailer. Hanks is auctioning the car to raise funds for Southern California Public Radio, and at the time of writing bidding is up to $24,375. In The Post Hanks played newspaper man Ben Bradlee, determined to release the Pentagon Papers which would expose the futility of the Vietnam War. He has to convince Washington Post owner Kay Graham (Meryl Streep) that the story is worth fighting for in the face of a Federal restraining order, and dashes around D.C. in the little green Fiat. The car is partially restored, powered by a 1.3-liter four-cylinder motor that drives the front wheels via a four-speed manual transmission. Originally yellow, the 128 was painted light green for its movie role and then resprayed in a darker hue. The interior certainly needs some work as it looks like a dog has eaten the front seats. On the plus side, it’s in sound running order after a good service in June 2022 and comes with a clean title in the name of Hanks’ trust.

Exhaust: Almost three million Fiat 128s were made between 1969 and 2003 in 11 countries (if you include those made by SEAT, Zastava, and Nasr) and tens of thousands were sold in the U.S.A. However, as the 128 was made with notoriously rust-prone steel, not many survived. It’s an important car that mobilized the masses and was even daily driven by Enzo Ferrari. With its Hollywood history, Hanks’ example is sure to be a hit. — Nik Berg

Diess out at VW, Porsche’s Blume in

Intake: After a rocky four-year tenure, Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess was booted from the role on Friday by a supervisory board and replaced by Porsche Chief Executive Oliver Blume. Reuters reported that the move came after: “A series of missteps over strategy and communication style. Sources with knowledge of the matter said the Porsche and Piëch families, who own over half the voting rights and a 31.4 percent equity stake in Volkswagen, pressed for a change at the helm.” Diess was “incorrigible. He significantly changed Volkswagen for the better. But his communication was miserable,” one source told Reuters. Blume will take over on September 1, and will keep his title of CEO at Porsche. Blume, 54, began as a trainee at Audi and quickly rose through the ranks.

Exhaust: VW has a solid product line and is doing well in Europe, leading electric car sales. But reportedly the automaker is considering an IPO, and needed a friendlier face than Diess’ at the helm. — Steven Cole Smith

NASCAR disqualifies first, second following Pocono’s post-race inspection

Intake: A couple hours after the checkered flag waved on yesterday’s Cup Series race in Pocono, NASCAR announced that winner Denny Hamlin and second-place-finishing Kyle Busch would be disqualified and stripped of their finishes as a result of their cars failing post-race inspection. The ruling handed third place driver Chase Elliott his fourth win of the season. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Hamlin and Busch dominated Sunday’s 160-lap contest, leading a combined 84 circuits. After each car rolled through tech, it was all for naught. Underneath the stockers’ vinyl wrap, NASCAR officials reportedly found unapproved modifications to both front facias. This year, under the sanctioning body’s Next Gen rule set, teams are not permitted to modify most of the vehicles third party-provided parts, fascia included. The resulting penalties mark the first time NASCAR has stripped a winner of their victory since 1962, and the first time that the first two positions were disqualified from a race since 1955. Both Joe Gibbs cars were confiscated and taken to the NASCAR Research and Development Center in Concord, NC for further inspection. Both teams have the opportunity to appeal the ruling by noon today. Fines, crew suspensions, and points penalties will likely be doled out in the next few days.

Exhaust: In 2017, after Joey Logano’s car failed inspection at Richmond, Logano and Team Penske weren’t awarded the winner’s points but were allowed to keep the win—and the trophy. This year, NASCAR isn’t messing around. Its move to strip yesterday’s top two finishers of all accolades is unprecedented in stock car racing’s modern era but follows the trend of NASCAR’s strict mandates and harsh penalties surrounding its Next Gen stocker. Since the new platform debuted this season, the firm has ruled with an iron fist when it came to unapproved modifications. Most notably, the group docked RFK Racing 100 driver—and owner—points, 10 playoff points, and $100,000 after one of their cars failed post-race inspection for modification to the rear facia. Expect the similar for Joe Gibbs Racing should they lose the appeal—or decide not to appeal. On a less serious note, Chase Elliott fell into Sunday’s win and took home the victory without even leading a lap. The Georgia driver has been on a roll over the past month and claiming a win without ever finding the front is an impressive feat for an equally impressive season. — Cameron Neveu

This is the best look we’ve had at the Ferrari Purosangue so far

Intake: The car that Ferrari once said it would never build has been spotted in light camouflage on the roads around Maranello, Italy. There’s still plenty of tape and a patterned black and white wrap to confuse cameras, but this is the first chance to really take in the proportions and stance of Ferrari’s first (production) SUV. The Purosangue looks promising: Long-nosed to house V-12 and V-8 engine options, and sitting lower to the ground than the likes of rivals from Lamborghini (the Urus) or Aston Martin (DBX). Watch closely and you’ll spot that two prototypes have completely different rear ends, one rather like the Maserati Levante’s, and the other rather more Gaydon-influenced. This second car appears to have even more pronounced front arches with hefty venting, suggesting a hotter engine and brakes. Perhaps the latter is the twelve-cylinder model? It’s not long now before the wraps will come off completely, with the Purosangue set for its global debut in September.

Exhaust: Ferrari really had no choice but to produce the Purosangue. The Urus and DBX make up more than half of sales for Lamborghini and Aston Martin and it’s hard to see this Ferrari failing to follow. Any Tifosi who are turned off by this four-seater should be reassured that the profits from the Purosangue will secure the future for the brand and its supercars. – Nik Berg

NHTSA wary of GM’s NDA with Lyriq buyers

Intake: The National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) has raised concerns of GM’s bold strategy to offer a $5500 rebate to a handful of early Cadillac Lyriq buyers on the condition that said customers sign an NDA with the automaker. In an email to the Detroit Free Press, NHTSA spokesperson Lucia Sanchez said that the group is “in communication with GM” regarding these agreements and whether they would inhibit an owner from reporting a safety concern to the agency.

“NHTSA relies on reports from consumers as an important source of information in evaluating potential safety defects,” Sanchez said in an email to the Free Press. “Any agreement that may prevent or dissuade consumers from reporting safety concerns to NHTSA is unacceptable.” For its part, GM does not intend for the NDA to be an impediment to any issue a customer may feel compelled to report to NHTSA. In a statement sent to the Free Press by GM spokesperson Dan Flores, the company made clear that such a conflict should not be an issue. “While the program agreement contains provisions designed to protect GM confidential and proprietary information, it is not intended to, and does not, prohibit or preclude participants from reporting any issue, safety or otherwise, to NHTSA or any other regulatory body.”

Exhaust: GM’s buyer NDA is the first of its kind within the industry. Traditionally, an automaker would dole out a handful of the early cars to employees and let them press the newcomer into their everyday driving rotations, taking inventory of any issues or defects, reporting them internally, and adjusting accordingly. Cadillac spokesperson Michael Albano told the Free Press that the company did use employees to trial-run the Lyriq as well, but that this new customer study is an opportunity to learn more about customers’ charging practices, driving behavior, and more. There’s a lot of pressure for GM to nail the market launch of the Lyriq; GMC’s Hummer EV was technically the first vehicle on sale using GM’s new Ultium battery platform, but the Lyriq has a much broader appeal than that 9000-pound brute and will be a better litmus test for the automaker’s EV future. GM’s insistence that this agreement wouldn’t prohibit a customer from reporting any safety concerns seems genuine; while this may all seem a bit concerning now, don’t expect much to change moving forward. — Nathan Petroelje

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Paul Walker’s 1973 911 RS could bring a furious price

Intake: Monterey Car Week has added another star car to its auction roster. A 1973 Porsche 911 2.7 RS previously owned by Paul Walker is going under the hammer with Mecum Auctions, and, based on past sales of Walker’s motors, it’s likely to fetch a pretty premium. Built in 1973 the yellow, duck-tailed Porsche was bought by Walker online and unseen, as he told Jay Leno on The Tonight Show in 2011. It comes with the Touring package and a refurbished black-and-white interior by Autobahn Interiors of San Diego. The Porsche’s odometer shows 93,774 km and the drivetrain and suspension was refreshed by Jerry Wood Enterprises in California. Remember this is one of just 1580 RS models built—and the only one owned by Walker, of course.

Exhaust: Hagerty U.K. analyzed sales of Walker’s 20 cars, bikes, and trucks over the last two years and concluded that, on average, cars that have has his name on the pink slip fetch 331 percent more than equivalent vehicles. Our valuation guide puts a #2 (Excellent) condition RS at $960,000. Could Walker’s name double that figure? — Nik Berg

Mercury Milan Voga Concept surfaces on the auction block … again

Intake: The Mercury Milan has its fair share of fans ’round these parts, so we’re thrilled that the Milan Voga concept has resurfaced. First introduced at Miami Fashion Week by Roselyn Sanchez (from TV’s Without a Trace) the 2006 Milan Voga Concept was designed by Camilo Pardo (father of the 2005 Ford GT) and sported a host of mostly cosmetic upgrades: stainless steel roof, suspension lowering, 20-inch HRE wheels, blue chrome-effect paint job, chrome-plated grilles, and a custom leather interior with blue chrome-effect trim. The seller states this is one of two examples made, though there’s no word on whether this one famously sold on eBay and was delivered by Sanchez to the lucky winner in September 2006, with all proceeds going to charity.

Exhaust: The Mercury brand was in trouble by this point, and made a last-ditch effort at relevance by pivoting to appealing more to women. While it’s an ironic twist of fate from its “Man’s Car” promotions in the late 1960s, Mercury made a valiant effort: Jill Wagner was its national spokesperson, and the most expensive Voga editions (Milan, Sable, Mariner) were aimed squarely at Latin women. Because if the F-150 Lobo was a big deal for Hispanic men … — Sajeev Mehta

Will you be joining 100,000 van fans at the VW Bus Festival?

Intake: VW has announced plans for the world’s biggest gathering of its camper vans and microbuses. The VW Bus Festival will take place in Hanover, Germany from June 23–25, 2023—a full 16 years since the last “Bulli Festival” in 2007. The three-day party will celebrate buses of all ages, from the first T1 of 1949 to the latest Multivan hybrid, and the all-electric ID.Buzz. There will be camping space for 6000 buses, live music, food trucks, parts stores and much more. Tickets go on sale on August 18.

Exhaust: Van fans can look forward to three days of efficient fun organized by VW Commercial Vehicles, and many VW clubs have already put towels on the sun loungers booked their places, so if you’re big on buses you’d better get in quick.  — NB

Stellantis axes Chinese joint venture for Jeep

Intake: Problems between Stellantis’ Jeep brand and Guangzhou Automobile Group in China appear to be rocky, with Stellantis announcing that its agreement with GAC, with which it had a joint venture to make and sell Jeeps in China, was being terminated. Stellantis had been negotiating to purchase a majority stake in GAC, and those negotiations slowed to a crawl. And now Jeep wants out completely, planning to sell imported Jeeps in China on its own, in part because the partnership has been, thus far, a money-loser since it started in 2010. In January, Stellantis issued a statement that it planned to increase its ownership share in GAC from 50 to 75 percent pending government approval. But later that day, says the Wall Street Journal, GAC said it had learned of the news from Stellantis’ website and that it “deeply regrets that this release is not agreed by us.” Apparently this lack of agreement has continued, and Stellantis will go its own way in China when it comes to selling imported electrified Jeep models.

Exhaust: Chinese automakers are very interested in taking, less interested in giving, including giving up controlling interest in their company. Says the Wall Street Journal: “Foreign car makers have struggled to grow their joint ventures with Chinese auto manufacturers. Local brands have blossomed instead and have been taking an increasing share of the market.”  — Steven Cole Smith

Ford’s Raptor R bounds into the six figures

Intake: Ford has opened the order books for the 700-hp F-150 Raptor R, and as a result has revealed the price: $109,145, including shipping. For comparison, the regular, EcoBoost-powered Raptor starts at $70,555, and the Tremor starts at $54,120. The only comparable pickup to the R, the 702-horsepower Ram TRX, starts at $78,890, or $80,835 with shipping. Both trucks are well-equipped in base form, but the TRX has a much longer list of add-ons than the already loaded Raptor R (the Mopar beast requires $10,295 if you want the 19-speaker stereo, a head-up display, a digital rearview mirror, and ventilated front seats). The TRX has a 6.2-liter supercharged Hemi V-8 rated at 702 horsepower. The Raptor R has a 5.2-liter supercharged V-8 with the aforementioned 700 horsepower. The regular Raptor has a 3.5-liter turbocharged V-6 with 450 horsepower. The TRX wins the horsepower war, but it’s considerably heavier than the Raptor R. Bottom line: Both trucks are real, real fast.

Exhaust: Option out the base TRX to make the equipment level match the Raptor R’s, and that nearly $30,000 price gap—almost enough to buy a base F-150 model—shrinks considerably. Still, we’re looking at about a $15,000 difference between the two trucks with comparable equipment, which is a lot of gasoline. Premium, please. Expect your Raptor R somewhere around September. —SCS

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For 39 years, VW has been spicing up its utilitarian Golf hatch with a GTI version for the United States. The result is perhaps the least polarizing of all enthusiast cars, as it is based on a hatchback designed for a life of commuting, grocery-running, parent-visiting, passenger-toting, highway-cruising, and parallel parking. Other “hot” hatches have come and gone—Lancer, Focus, Veloster—but the GTI has remained, a master of feisty, all-round usability.

Mechanically, the eighth-generation GTI is only a half-step change from its predecessor (2015–2021), which suggests that VW has refused to fix what ain’t broke. The Mk. 8 ultimately possesses a tinge of bittersweet: Customers, spoiled for choice in high-riding, ruggedized crossovers, still want to buy this low-slung, manual-equipped hatchback—and, despite a portfolio glutted with profitable crossovers, VW still makes it. The Volkswagen Group even kept the GTI around when it axed all lesser Golfs from its U.S. catalog for 2022. Despite this, the Mk. 8’s interior can’t hide compromise. Though a cost-cut and touchscreen-dominated cabin doesn’t dilute the Golf’s beloved personality, that interior risks distracting from it.

First, the good things, the vast majority of which are shared with the Mk. 7. Four passenger doors plus a hatch, underpinned by Volkswagen’s modular, front-drive MQB platform. A turbocharged, 2.0-liter, iron-block four cylinder (dubbed EA888 in VW-speak). An available six-speed manual on every trim (S, SE, and Autobahn, same as before).

The sheetmetal now looks bulldoggier, but the mechanical changes under those panels are incremental. The “Evo4” version of the EA888 is now blessed with a higher-pressure fuel system and 4.3 more pounds of boost: Horsepower increases by 13, to 241, and torque grows by 15 lb-ft, to 273. An electronically locking differential, optional on early Mk. 7s and standard on late ones, is standard here.

Fun fact: Any GTI you buy in the states is now built in Germany, not Mexico, as with the Mk. 7. Unsurprisingly, price jumps—$1855 from the 2021 to 2022 model year. Our mid-level, automatic-equipped, plaid-upholstered SE tester stickered at $35,095 while carrying just one option: Moonstone Gray paint, a trendy nonmetallic shade similar to rain-dampened asphalt. Destination charge counts for the remaining $995. (As of this writing, that fee has jumped by another $100, according to VW’s online configurator.)

As you’d expect with a hatchback, the GTI proved an accommodating hauler. With rear seats folded, it swallowed a load or two of moving boxes (Home Depot, mostly size medium), plus a vacuum cleaner, a broom, a trash bin, and a sloppily rolled oversize sleeping bag. No shins were banged on bumpers in the process, either. (Adult rear-seat passengers fare equally well when entering and exiting.) Inflatable stand-up paddleboard (deflated), the paddle, and an electric pump, rear seats upright? Not an issue—there’s even a 12-volt socket in the passenger-side trunk wall to power said pump. Interior cubbies behind each rear wheel even accommodated chunky 32-ounce Hydroflasks, restraining them from rolling about like grenades.

On back roads, the GTI is equal parts friendly and spunky. It doesn’t sound or ride much like Volkswagen’s all-wheel-drive Golf R hot rod, minus that car’s whooshing turbo noises and seam-hunting suspension. If you just want to cruise around, crank the stereo, and stick a hand out the window, the GTI’s powertrain complies, no drama. Not that experimentation isn’t rewarded. A tug of the shifter into Sport prompts the transmission to hold gears, leaving you free to go hunt for the powerband sweet spot. The suspension falls on the taut side of everyday comfortable. The high-ceilinged cabin feels airy and open-eyed.

This car does a great job of meeting the driver where they are. Not only will it run to the pharmacy without complaint; it will put a smile on the face of a novice and engage a GTI devotee with years of track experience.

In most circumstances, anyway. To Volkswagen’s credit, the development budget favored performance. Screens are cheap to make. In three or so years, when VW needs to attract new GTI buyers, the car’s large flat panels will be easy to update in ways customers will notice. But financial logic or that front diff lock aren’t likely to cool your temper when you briefly deactivate the entire air-conditioning system and the software is so maddeningly unintuitive that you can’t reawaken it.

There is too much screen here. A near-complete absence of buttons. Not all touchscreens are distracting; a good infotainment system, like a good smartphone, can be executed to demand a minimum of user attention. If you’re willing to adapt to a digitized ecosystem, the learning curve with most of them tapers quickly. This car, on the other hand, could (did) make a 25-year-old reviewer with ten unbroken years of Apple product ownership feel illiterate in the language of icons, submenus, and swipes. Those of older generations may feel alienated, if not insulted, no matter their patience.

The system’s pain points did narrow after a week. If you have an iPhone, you spend a lot of time in the friendly confines of Apple Carplay, for one. But you also come to learn the infotainment system’s confusing hieroglyphics: that square symbol means home, power button means all climate control off, and no other icon will reactivate the system. You become a veritable ninja at the tap-tap-tap process required to deactivate the annoying auto stop/start system each trip. One time’s the charm, once you decode the black-plastic steering-wheel buttons, to deactivate the prudish “ecotips” that intrude at the top of the GTI’s digital instrument panel. Yes, I do indeed want to cruise at 75 with the windows down and the AC on low, set 68 degrees. Let me be captain of my own damn destiny.

Other irritations faded much slower. The groove of tappable, brushable dash controls that’s used to modulate volume and temperature? Why isn’t it backlit, so you can see it at night? Why does the climate-control system demand you take eyes off road for anything more than “warmer” or “cooler,” anyway? Headlights tell the same story: “Auto” keeps you safe from tickets, but the front lights are adjusted not by dial, but by a smooth tab of glossy black plastic with no indents or ridges.

The GTI’s good name has been built over an unbroken stretch of nearly 50 years (39 in American history). Five or six years of a gimmicky interior won’t ruin that. It may, however, frustrate first-comers who would have found a Mk. 7 satisfying and without a single grumble. That interior might prompt internet-research fiends to shop lightly used Golf 7s instead of buying a new 8. (There are certainly enough 7s out there—VW built over 80,000 for the U.S. alone.)

Or they’ll chase alternatives. They might, just might, look at the Hyundai Veloster N, which is several thousand cheaper… and has exactly one model year to live before Hyundai discontinues the model entirely. The newly introduced Honda Civic Si has a far more intuitive and upscale interior and starts below $30,000, though many enthusiasts will dismiss its powertrain as lacking the GTI’s spirit. The Acura Integra A-Spec is the GTI’s freshest and most promising contender: Though Acura restricts the manual transmission to a single, $36,895 configuration, the car comes with an electronic locking diff (a feature Honda refused the Civic Si) and an interior that, though shared with the Civic, at least has a few real buttons.

The VW’s cape may have a wrinkle or two, but the GTI’s understated and well-rounded talent remains intact. You’ll only want something better if you’re willing to compromise—on door count, cargo space, or performance. For now, bless the Wolfsburg gods that the GTI is still an option on our shores. Probably the best one, too.

***

2022 VW Golf GTI 2.0T SE (DSG)

Price: $35,095 / $36,485 (base / as-tested)

Highs: Down to clown, or not, at any time—even with an automatic. Spacious, quiet, fuel-efficient.

Lows: Chunky-monkey frowny LED face. Infotainment system distracts more than satisfies. Interior materials feel cheapskate.

Summary: A frustrating infotainment system in a lackluster interior irons a few wrinkles into this vaunted all-rounder, but the good stuff remains.

The post Review: 2022 VW Golf GTI 2.0T SE (DSG) appeared first on Hagerty Media.

GT-R-swapped 1974 VW is the wildest Thing you’ve ever seen

Intake: Ever wondered what would happen if The Thing met Godzilla? Thanks to Canadian genius Tim Schmidt, we now know. After his R35 Nissan GT-R was damaged in a fire, Schmidt decided to build the wildest Thing the world has ever seen. Oddball Customs in Oxbridge, Ontario, took the chassis of the 700-hp 2017 GT-R and the body of Schmidt’s 1974 VW, and did some crazy Frankenstein-style grafting to make the two meet. The GT-R chassis had to be shortened by 16 inches and the Thing’s metalwork required widening, but amazingly it all came together. Weighing in at under 2000 pounds, this must be the fastest Thing ever built.

Exhaust: This probably isn’t what VW had in mind when it launched the military-derived Type 181 Thing, but how can you not applaud the madness? Schmidt lost an awful lot in the fire which ruined the donor GT-R, including a Porsche 911, an Ares Design Bentley, and a Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe, so it’s wonderful to see a phoenix rising from the flames. — Nik Berg

In support of RPM Act, PRI turns up the heat on lawmakers

Intake: Performance Racing Industry (PRI) has expanded its advocacy efforts to further promote and protect motor vehicle racing. To streamline the process for industry professionals, enthusiasts, and fans to join the fight to preserve racing, PRI’s Save Our Racecars initiative features a redesigned website (SaveOurRacecars.com) that includes a “Vote Racing” program to help facilitate voter registration and highlight pro-racing political candidates. Supporters will also find PRI-created template letters, phone scripts, and other helpful resources to use while reaching out to lawmakers. Critical to the industry’s future—and central to PRI’s advocacy efforts—is the Recognizing the Protection of Motorsports (RPM) Act of 2021 (H.R. 3281/S.2736), which must be enacted into law to protect the right to modify street cars, trucks, and motorcycles into dedicated race vehicles. The RPM Act reverses the EPA’s interpretation that the Clean Air Act does not allow a motor vehicle designed for street use to be converted into a dedicated race car.

Exhaust: While the RPM Act continues to languish in the hands of committees, PRI is hoping its efforts will spark movement towards its passing. If you want to join the fight to preserve racing—or if you weren’t aware that it was under attack and would like to learn more—check out the website. PRI has made it easy to support the right to convert street vehicles into dedicated race vehicles, an American tradition for more than a century. — Jeff Peek

Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion to run Laguna Seca’s Corkscrew … backwards

Intake: In a historic first, racers will run the iconic Corkscrew at Laguna Seca uphill to conclude the festivities of the 2022 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion held August 17–20.  “When the decision was made to reduce the number of idle days between the Monterey Pre-Reunion and the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, the Monterey Motorsports Reunion Advisory Council and our team developed a more community day approach to make it a true party in the paddock,” explained John Narigi, president and general manager of WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Sunday’s two hillclimb sessions will be open to 60 cars that competed during the weekend along with a few selected guests. Spectators will help crown the winner.

Exhaust: We’ve been Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion fans for ages, and if you’ve seen our coverage of the event from previous years, you’ve heard us proselytize about it being the best event on the peninsula during Car Week. Giving fans a new way to appreciate these cars is only going to make the event better this year, since the Corkscrew is the one turn that is unmistakably Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca. The track is already very spectator-friendly, and the hills on the infield side of the Corkscrew make for fantastic vantage points. With this year’s historic classes centered on Le Mans racers, the sights and sounds of the hillclimb will be, for most spectators, utterly unprecedented. —Brandan Gillogly

Maybe third time’s the charm for Norton and the Commando 961

Intake: Many companies have their name tied to one specific model, but none are quite as identified with a single product as Norton and the Commando. It’s a bike that built the company in the ’60s, and with which Kenny Dreer attempted to rebuild it in the mid-to-late 2000s. For the second time, the Commando is the linchpin of plans to revitalize Norton, now owned by India’s TVS. The photos on Norton’s website show a motorcycle visually identical to one offered by Norton before its 2020 bankruptcy, but since the bike now needs to be Euro 5 emissions compliant, there are likely more than a few things reworked underneath its skin.

Exhaust: The story behind Norton’s rebirth has plenty of twists and turns, but the TVS ownership is one that gives us hope. Following the problems with production and delivery of the V4SS superbike, Norton needs the management of a large, focused group like TVS. With any luck, third time will prove the charm and the Commando 961 can resurrect a brand that will go on to create even more interesting machines. — Kyle Smith

Hyundai’s performance division preps for a party on July 14

Intake: The next chapter for Hyundai’s sporty N Division will be opened on July 14 and it’ll be electrifying—as you can see from the teaser video above, which begins with the crackle of a boosted i30N hot hatch and swiftly moves on to the whirr of an EV and a bolt of lightning. “N loves corners ‘cuz it’s fun,” reads a caption, followed by “But soon, fun evolves.” Further posts on the South Korean brand’s social media have teased a be-winged version of the upcoming Ioniq 6 four-door coupe, a blue blur that might be a speedier Ioniq 5, and the silhouette of something even racier. All will be revealed next week.

Exhaust: Hyundai describes its N cars as “Born in Namyang, honed at Nürburgring,” a pithy phrase given more weight by the presence of erstwhile BMW M boss Albert Biermann at the head of the N division from 2015 to 2021. (He’s still with Hyundai but has since taken an Europe-based position as a technical advisor.) The department’s near-300-hp Elantra N and Kona N models are proof that the team produces driving thrills, though the Veloster N hatchback, alas, is no more. Meanwhile, the Ioniq 5 has turned out to be an excellent EV, re-writing the book on design, packaging, charging, and performance for mid-market electrics. Putting Ioniq and N together could be rather exciting. — NB

Ferrari’s Le Mans racer flashes more skin before 2023 debut

Intake: After showing a teaser image of the nose of its new LMH car last month (below), Ferrari has given us a better representation of what the car will look like when it joins the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2023. It’s nice having your own private test track, as Ferrari does with Fiorano, and that’s where the early tests of the car are currently taking place. Ferrari has long been a “race what we sell” competitor, racing its production cars in the GT classes, but the lure of the LMH Hypercar was too strong, and the manufacturer will try its hand in the top Prototype class after a 50-year absence. “We are proud of what we have achieved, and although the LMH’s masking during testing hides the car’s volumes and styling, I think it is undeniably recognizable as a Ferrari,” said Antonello Coletta, director of Ferrari’s sports car racing program.

Exhaust: Ferrari hasn’t announced a driver lineup, but it seems clear that they will tag their GT drivers, like Alessandro Pier Guidi, who reportedly shook down the Ferrari at Fiorano. Sadly, Ferrari has no present plans to enter the IMSA GTP ranks along with other manufacturers at Daytona in January, but you can bet the powers at IMSA are lobbying hard to get the Ferrari into that series. — Steven Cole Smith

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If you own and enjoy a newer front-drive compact, you probably owe a measure of gratitude to Volkswagen.

For a good fifteen-year stretch starting in the late 1990s with the debut of the Mk IV Golf, VW set the benchmark for refinement and sophistication in the compact segment. There was a heavy dose of German engineering: Consider that as far back as 2008, you could spec a GTI with a turbocharged, direct-injected engine and dual-clutch transmission—kit even most luxury cars of the day had yet to obtain.

It was more than just components, though. There was was character. The interior quality of these small VWs was not just best in class but better than most cars in the class or two above. I drove a Jetta from Michigan to Boston in 2009. I remember not only being impressed but also being unimpressed by most of what I drove in the months after. Automakers everywhere took note and developed a generation of compact cars and crossovers in their image. The Honda Civic Sport Touring I recently reviewed more closely resembles a Mk VII (2015–2021) GTI in its styling, refinement, and driving character than it does any previous Civic.

The 2022 Jetta GLI in many respects benefits from the blueprint established by its great predecessors, yet it also lives in their shadow.

If you haven’t been keeping up with VW’s lineup changes, a recap: Starting in 2010, Jettas diverged from the Golf, becoming larger, less expensive, and generally more suited to the budget-conscious American compact car shopper. This was part of the automaker’s larger ambitions to sell 800,000 vehicles in the United States. That plan didn’t quite pan out, but the Jetta remains a relatively large, affordable entry point to German car ownership. The GTI  is now entering its eighth generation as the only Golf in this country, leaving the refreshed Jetta as the primary compact offering. The GLI, which has long been a GTI with a trunk, is now very much a different car.

Let’s start with the size. The new GLI Autobahn comes across like a midsize sedan. This is partly a tribute to the creeping growth across the industry (have you sat in a 3 Series recently?). Yet the Jetta’s design seems intended to draw attention to its larger dimensions. The roofline is upright, traditional. Busy styling in the grille and superfluous creases on the hood add visual weight to front end. One editor saw hints of the last Ford Taurus in the squared-off rear bumper. As a result, even though the GLI has a similar footprint to the latest Civic, it looks both bigger and frumpier. Picture how you look in pleated pants, and you’re not far off.

VW product planners clearly assume bigger is always better in America and, well, they’re not wrong. This American duly appreciated being able to stick two child seats in back and still have a cavernous trunk for their stuff. It’s the “less expensive” part where VW continues to miscalculate. The hard plastics and seemingly sprayed on carpets in our test car are well behind most of the competition even at the Jetta’s $21,460 entry point; for the test car’s $32,685 sticker, they’re almost insulting. GLI-specific upgrades such as comfortable leather bucket seats and a leather-wrapped, flat-bottom wheel elevate things a bit but also serve to illuminate how cheap the rest of the cabin is. Have you ever redone the chrome on a car only to realize it calls more attention to your crappy paint? Some consolation: The Jetta hasn’t yet followed the new GTI off the touchscreen deep end. It has a screen, of course, but buttons remain for key radio and climate-control functions.

Volkswagen has also attempted to add back in costs they’ve cut from the Jetta’s mechanicals, here to much greater effect. Aside from a bigger engine than the standard Jetta—the great 2.0-liter EA888 engine in 228-hp spec—the GLI gets a multilink (versus torsion bar) rear suspension, stiffer and lower springs, and an electronically controlled limited-slip differential. These are pretty significant upgrades for what amounts to a niche trim package on a model of waning importance (the Jetta, long VW’s bestseller in the United States, now trails the Taos and Tiguan). Herein lies the brilliance of the MQB components set—it allows VW to swap parts and even change dimensions at minimal cost.

Given the hardware, you’d expect the GLI to drive something like a GTI and indeed it does. The EA888 is far from the only direct-injected turbo four on the market these days, but it’s still one of the best, providing near instant torque and plenty of power throughout the rev range. The six-speed manual (a dual-clutch automatic is optional) has longer throws than you might expect for a sport sedan, but the shifter glides through the gates with minimal slop and clutch engagement feels smooth.

We tested the GLI’s mettle at GingerMan Raceway in South Haven, Michigan. The track has several long corners that punish a driver for jumping on the throttle early, a potential trap for a heavy, powerful front-drive car. Yet with a smooth right foot and some help from the limited-slip diff, the VW bounded onto straights with verve. The steering wheel likes similarly easy, deliberate inputs, as the 3272-pound GLI has plenty of weight to transfer. After a day of lapping, I wished for all the track-friendly stuff, like summer tires (offered when the car launched but no longer available), bigger brakes, and even stiffer springs. On the way home, navigating highway construction and potholes, I reconsidered. Even when Mitsubishi Evos and Acura Integra Type Rs sat at the top of the sport compact food chain, Volkswagen took a more relaxed approach, and for most drivers most of the time, it was the right approach. It still is.

Indeed, a lot about the Jetta GLI feels right. The problem is that the remaining players in America’s compact car market are cold-blooded killers. In particular, the Honda Civic Si and the turbo, all-wheel-drive Mazda 3 start for less money than the GLI and provide levels of refinement and style on par with stuff costing ten grand more. VW should recognize those cars—it used to build them.

***

2022 Volkswagen Jetta GLI Autobahn

Price: $32,685/$32,685 (base/as-tested)

Highs: Just-right balance between performance and comfort for a family-friendly sport compact.

Lows: Frumpy styling, downmarket interior at an upmarket price.

Summary: A fine car that falls short of the bar VW itself set.

The post Review: 2022 Volkswagen Jetta GLI Autobahn appeared first on Hagerty Media.

GM considering factory restoration shop, trademark filing suggests

Intake: A recent filing with the United States Patent Office (USPTO) by General Motors may hint at an exciting new chapter for the beloved Detroit brand. The patent trademarked the phrase “GM restoration,” which implies that The General is eyeing an in-house restoration business akin to the ones offered by Porsche, Land Rover, and a few other OEMs. Or perhaps the filing precedes the announcement of a new run of parts for certain classics. Details are sparse, but the fine text mentions that all sorts of components could fall under this trademarked entity’s purview, including mechanical bits like camshafts and exhaust manifolds as well as certain electronics, body panels, and rubber components. In the not-too-distant future, you maybe be able to head straight to the source for a full-blown revitalization of that barn-find ’68 Chevelle SS (or 1967 L88, as shown here).

Exhaust: But should you? High-quality restorations are not simple undertakings—even if you’re the company that built the thing in the first place. “The restoration program will have to offer a service that essentially hands you back a perfect car when finished to be in consideration over the well-established restorers like Kevin MacKay, whose shop has a proven track record of restoring concours-quality cars,” says Hagerty Price Guide editor Greg Ingold. It might be more logical that this new branch will specialize in the (re)production of older, hard-to-find parts, akin to Toyota’s GR Heritage Parts or the Nissan equivalent. Regardless, all signs point to the General making an effort to help keep the classics we know and love on the street. How ya gonna say no to that?

VW’s flagship EV … is not a crossover

Intake: Meet the Volkswagen ID.Aero concept, the latest salvo in the German brand’s ongoing electrification onslaught. As most good concept cars do, the ID.Aero offers some hints the production version of VW’s new global-market flagship sedan. For starters, VW’s MEB platform will underpin this 16-plus-foot chariot—bones shared with the ID.4 crossover and the forthcoming ID.Buzz electric van. Short overhangs and a long wheelbase bolster cabin space, though how that space is used is anyone’s guess–there are no interior photos as of now. Sleek bodywork and a sedan profile help the ID.Aero achieve a drag coefficient of 0.23, which still lags behind the Tesla Model S’ 0.208 and the 0.20 figure claimed by the Mercedes-Benz EQS. That said, 0.23 is a far better than what most crossovers can achieve these days, and is especially advantageous for the battery-electric ID.Aero. That slippery shell helps the car maximize the range of its 77-kWh lithium-ion battery pack, which VW says achieves up to 385 miles of range on the WLTP test cycle. (That figure may diminish slightly as the car makes necessary concessions to production-spec vehicle regulations.) VW says that production for the ID.Aero for the Chinese market will begin in China in the second half of next year. European-spec models will begin rolling off the firm’s Emden production facility in Germany around the same time. No word on U.S. production yet, but we’d anticipate it’s not far behind—think late 2023 or early 2024.

Exhaust: Flagship sedans in a crossover-crazed world? Haf ze Germans lost zier mahbles? Not entirely. Low drag coefficients are easiest to achieve with low-slung, rounded shapes; the more your new ride looks like a river rock, the better. (Yes, even the floorpan.) Sorry crossovers, ultra-low drag coefficients are gonna be a bit tougher for you. That said, if the new ID.Aero arrives in the U.S. before the ID.Buzz’s return in 2024—according to VW, it will—we can’t help feeling like some resources were misallocated. Folks seem genuinely excited about a delightfully retro electric van; we’re skeptical that the same could be said for another sedan.

Euro looks with an American heart: Jay Leno drives an Apollo GT

Intake: Of all the ideas an enterprising twenty-something may have, starting a car company has to be one of the more far-fetched. That didn’t stop Milt Brown during the mid-1960s, though. The Apollo GT first saw the light of day in 1963 as an Italian-built body that was shipped to the U.S. where it received a Buick 215-cubic-inch V-8. Its blend of European panache and American power has long been a hit worldwide. Just 88 were produced, so if, after this video, an Apollo is something you want, know you might be searching for quite some time for the right car.

Exhaust: The early prototypes were all aluminum, but when production ramped up, the bodies became steel with aluminum hoods and doors. That changes the weight a bit, but this is still a fairly lithe car, considering the 225-horsepower produced by that Buick V-8. Claimed top speed in period was 150 mph, which was very good performance for the $6000 base price. Of course these days $6000 won’t get you one of these American exotics—a #3, driver-quality car can easily fetch over $100,000. Crazier dreams have been realized, though …

F1 extends ESPN contract, price skyrockets

Intake: According to a report in Sports Business Journal, Formula 1 has agreed to renew its broadcast contract with ESPN for three more years, through the 2025 season. How much money? Sit down: Between $75 and $90 million a year, up enormously from the approximately $5 million a year ESPN pays now. The deal reportedly gives the broadcast company the right to put a small number of races on its ESPN+ streaming service, though most will air on ABC or ESPN. The races on ABC are likely to be the two U.S. events, in Miami and Austin, and possibly Montreal and Mexico City. In renewing with ESPN, SBJ says F1 turned down offers from Comcast, Amazon, and Netflix.

Exhaust: What is the reason for the steep climb in F1 popularity in the U.S.? That would be Netflix’s Drive to Survive series, which follows multiple drivers and storylines during an F1 season. Premiering in 2019, Drive to Survive is a top-10 show in 56 countries. ABC’s coverage of the F1 race in Miami peaked at 2.9 million viewers and averaged 2.6 million during the actual race. F1 even beat out NASCAR’s audience for the Darlington event in the critical 18–49 age demographic. Formula 1 is red-hot, finally, in the U.S. And it makes you wonder just how much TV rights will be worth when ESPN’s contract is up in three years, after the Las Vegas race debuts in 2023.

Wayne Gretzky’s custom boat is a sight to behold—just like #99

Intake: Idaho’s beautiful Lake Coeur d’Alene is known for its classic boats, and even though summer has just begun, it’s going to be difficult to unseat this newbie as the most talked-about vessel on the water this year. Hockey Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky and his wife, Janet, will soon launch—or relaunch—their new 34-foot, custom-built Steinway 340 HT powerboat after taking possession of it last September (two days before shutting things down for winter). According to the Robb Report, the Steinway was designed and hand-built for the Gretzkys by Coeur d’Alene wooden-boat specialists Coeur Custom. Crafted from Sapele hardwood using traditional double-planked construction, the open-bow day cruiser glows with its 16 coats of varnish and shiny stainless-steel trim. It seats up to 12 passengers and has a galley and toilet. The cushions are embroidered with Gretzky’s iconic 99 jersey number.

Exhaust: Gretzky, arguably the greatest hockey player ever to lace up skates, forged his record-setting career by being ultra-competitive on the ice. Off it—just like his idol, Gordie Howe, who also loved boating—Gretzky is one of the most approachable and down-to-earth superstars you’d ever want to meet. So it should come as no surprise that despite Gretzky being able to afford whatever he wants, he settled for a lake boat instead of an ocean-going yacht. Forever known as The Great One, perhaps his boat will be too.

Ford institutes draconian EV lease restrictions?

The post GM considers in-house restorations, ESPN’s eye-watering F1 extension, Ford to axe EV lease buy-outs appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Would you pay $600K for the ultimate Beetle restomod?

Intake: With a plan to limit production to just 22 cars, Milivié Design may lay claim to building most exclusive Beetle on the road. Customization, mechanical and aesthetic, is an integral part of Beetle history, but Milivié Design takes things to new extremes. Each build takes 1000 hours, says the shop, and every one starts with a hand-selected, original chassis that is artfully modified until only the silhouette remains familiar. Power comes from a Type 1 flat-four punched to 2.28 liters and mated to a Porsche Carrera 2 transaxle. All this custom can be yours for $600,000.

Exhaust: Buying a turn-key build is generally the easiest and most cost-effective avenue to restomod ownership, but this price point is … ambitious. Singer Vehicle Design has certainly popularized bespoke cars on a vintage chassis, and its “reimagined” air-cooled 911s have inspired other shops to apply a similar treatment to dozens of other makes and models—not just Porsches, but G Wagens, Broncos, and Land Rovers. Does the VW Beetle have enough panache to justify such a high-dollar treatment—especially if you have to explain why you spent over half a million dollars? That’s for you to decide.

Porsche settles fuel-economy lawsuit for $80M

Intake: Volkswagen Group and its Porsche division have agreed to a class-action settlement worth at least $80 million to resolve claims it skewed emissions and fuel economy data on 500,000 Porsche vehicles in the U.S. According to court documents—and reported by Automotive News—the settlement covers 2005 through 2020 Porsches. Owners accused Porsche of physically altering test vehicles, impacting emissions and fuel economy results. Impacted owners will receive payments of $250 to $1109 per vehicle. Porsche confirmed the settlement in a statement, but said it has “not acknowledged the allegations in these proceedings.”

Exhaust: Although Porsche says “the agreement serves to end the issue,” that’s likely wishful thinking—or perhaps it refers only to the legal aspect of the situation—since the settlement doesn’t do much for Porsche’s reputation. Making matters worse, the automaker is directly connected to Volkswagen, which dealt with its own emissions/fuel-economy cheating scandal five years ago and paid more than $20 billion to settle U.S. criminal and civil actions.

Pagani goes long with the Huayra Codalunga

Intake: Pagani Automobili has always gone to great lengths to create the most exotic of hypercars. Now, however, the Italian brand has extended things even further with a run of five longtail Huaryas, each destined for one of Pagani’s most loyal customers, who have paid more than $7 million each for the privilege. In fact it was two of these clients who approached Pagani with the idea of a Codalunga (Italian for “long tail”) in 2018, and subsequently worked closely with the firm’s Grandi Complicazioni special projects team to design the cars. The Codalunga is just over 14 inches longer than a regular Huarya, but despite increasing in size the goal was actually to simplify the design.

“We decided to use the simple linear style of the Huayra Coupé as the starting point,” explains Horacio Pagani. “We made the Huayra Codalunga longer and smoother, as if it had been caressed and molded by the wind, to design lines that were even more elegant than the coupe. We drew inspiration from the long tails of the 1960s that raced at Le Mans, which had very clean lines. The Huayra Codalunga comprises very few essential elements; we have taken away rather than added. Simplifying is not at all straightforward, and this vehicle is, above all, the result of a complex pursuit of simple ideas.”

Powered by an 840-hp V-12, the Codalunga could become the most rapid Pagani to date, as it is lighter and more aerodynamic than the Huarya and the brief was to create “a model which would feel at home on the roads as well as on display at international concours events.”

Exhaust: Pagani is set to release its all-new car in September, and what a way for the Huarya to bow out this is. Despite the brief from the very discerning customers who prompted Pagani to build the Codalunga, the chances of seeing one of these on the road is negligible, but hopefully concours attendees will get the opportunity to lust after this longtail.

BMW’s M3 Touring is the fastest wagon to lap the ‘Ring

Intake: Seven minutes, 35 seconds and six hundredths. That’s how long it takes the new BMW M3 Touring to tour the Nürburgring. To put that into context, this time makes it faster than its stablemates the M5 Competition and M4 GTS, and more rapid than such exotica as the Honda NSX, Ferrari 458 Italia, Lexus LFA, and even the Bugatti Veyron. No longer will drivers turn up in a Touring as their track-day support car, it will actually be their track day car. Watch the video above to see how BMW M pulled it off.

Exhaust: As if we didn’t already have enough reasons to petition BMW to bring its new speed wagon stateside. Who’s signing with us?

You’ve never met a Family Huckster like Travis Pastrana’s

Intake: Leave it to the folks at Hoonigan to ready something utterly insane for this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed. The graphic-clad brick you see before you began life as a modest 1983 Subaru GL wagon, but thanks to a collaborative effort between Hoonigan and Subaru Motorsports USA, it’s morphed into a sequentially shifted bolt of white lightning that Hoonigan star Travis Pastrana will point up Lord March’s famous driveway later this month. Gone is the GL’s wheezy, 52-hp flat-four: In its place sits a modern, boosted-to-the-moon flat-four that makes an astonishing 850 hp. That fire-breather is bolted to a six-speed sequential gearbox which routes power to all four wheels in true Subaru fashion. There’s an electropneumatic wing out back, plus two active wings in the fender flares of the rear wheels. Each can be raised or lowered depending on downforce needs, but Pastrana has no illusions about the aerodynamic virtues of an ’80 family hauler: “An active rear wing is helpful to an extent, but the ’83 wagon flies about as well as you would imagine … kind of like a brick. This makes the jumps way more sketchy but also more entertaining and less predictable.”

Pastrana will take to the hill in his bonkers creation—known as “the Family Huckster”—at Goodwood’s annual Festival of Speed, which takes place next week, June 23–26.

Exhaust: This isn’t Pastrana’s first time up the hill; last year, he campaigned a heavily modified Subaru WRX STi nicknamed the “Airslayer.” That car, by the way, was the star of Hoonigan’s Gymkhana 2020, which saw Pastrana tear up his hometown of Annapolis, Maryland. We can’t wait to watch Pastrana and many other stars of the automotive world rip up the hill next week.

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Good morning, or afternoon, dear Manifoldians: There will be no daily news digest this upcoming Monday, Memorial Day, May 30th. For the Manifold’s return Tuesday, come ready to share your thoughts on reborn DeLorean’s electric supercar, scheduled to debut early next week. 

Restored by VW, four-axle T1 will conquer the Alps once again

Intake: VW Commercial Vehicles has just restored the most adventurous T1 ever made. It was sold in standard form to an owner in Austria in 1962, but Viennese mechanic Kurt Kretzner had lofty plans for the van. Kretnzer wanted to turn it into a mountain-climbing machine, “An ideal helper for everyone: mountain hut keepers, hunters, foresters, doctors, maintenance engineers for ski-lifts, TV and radio masts, pipelines and the like,” as he described in the brochure for his “Half-track Fox.” Kretzner fitted a double axle with 14-inch wheels at the front to take care of steering, while drive was provided by another double axle, utilizing 13-inch wheels linked by caterpillar-type tracks. An automatic limited-slip differential was installed to maximize traction, but the van’s 1.2-liter flat four engine was unmodified. With just 34 hp, the Half-track Fox could only muster a top speed of 22 mph, but that’s still considerably quicker than hiking. Although Kretzner hoped to sell the Fox, only one was built and it was seldom seen. It passed through the hands of the Porsche Museum in Gmünd, Germany, and the Bullikartei e.V. club who attempted to restore it, before it reached VWCV Classic Vehicles, who began a lengthy restoration in 2018.

Exhaust: We’ve seen some crazy VW van builds, from Gotham Garage’s six-wheeled Frank’N’Bus to Richard Hammond’s ill-fated canal boat conversion, but this 60-year-old T1 is just genius. Can you imagine a cooler way to climb?

VW’s 20th birthday present to the Golf R is … more power

Intake: Ever since its arrival in 2002, the Volkswagen Golf R (in early form it was called the R32) has represented maximum hatchback. To celebrate 20 years of the über hatch, Volkswagen is readying a special edition, dubbed the Golf R 20 Years Edition. If the Euro-spec car (shown here) is any indication, expect a mild bump in power—330 hp or so versus the regular R’s 315—as well as a few design details such as a “20” badge on the B pillar, a different spoiler, and blue wheels and mirror caps. A new feature called “Emotion Start” will rev the engine all the way to 2500 rpm when you punch that start button, but that’s really just to make a bit more noise—it yields no mechanical gains. VW’s keeping tight-lipped on any differences between the Euro- and U.S. market cars, but some clues may lie in the 2023 model-year updates given by Audi to the Golf R’s platform-mate, the RS3. That rowdy little five-cylinder sedan gets a louder exhaust here in the U.S., so it’s not a stretch to imagine this special Golf R will, too. Perhaps that freer-exhaling exhaust will take credit for a few extra hp?

Exhaust: We’ve driven the base 2022 Golf R twice now, once on winding Ohio roads and once in Michigan’s snowy Upper Peninsula. Each time, we walked away impressed. Whereas older versions of the car—such as the original 2002 MK4 model and the 2007 through 2014 MK5 model—employed Volkswagen’s quirky VR6 six-cylinder engine and a Haldex all-wheel-drive system, this new MK8 car uses a juiced-up version of VW’s workhorse EA888 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder and a new AWD system with a trick rear-control unit that accomodates a drift mode. Expect this 20 Years Edition model to be a hot commodity among the the hyper-hatchback’s most ardent fans.

Bentley celebrates 70 years of the iconic R-Type Continental

Intake: Bentley is celebrating 70 years since the start of production of the R-Type Continental, one of the most renowned cars in the company’s 103-year history and the first Bentley to wear the Continental name. While the first prototype R-Type Continental—known as “Olga,” thanks to its OLG490 registration—was on the road in August 1951, production began in May 1952. By the time the last R-Type was assembled in 1955, 208 R-Type Continentals had been built, and 193 of them were bodied by HJ Mulliner, which used aluminum liberally to reduce weight. At the time, the Continental—propelled to 120 mph by a 153-horsepower, 4.6-liter, six-cylinder inline engine—was the fastest four-seat automobile in the world. That mantle was passed on to the modern-day Continental GT in 2003.

Exhaust: The R-Type Continental was as rare a sight in the 1950s as it is today, but you can still see the car’s elegant exterior lines in all three modern generations of the Continental GT. It’s no wonder that the R-Type went down in history as a benchmark Bentley.

Retired F1 star Kimi Räikkönen to race in NASCAR this summer

Intake: Trackhouse Entertainment Group announced yesterday that Formula 1 champion Kimi Räikkönen will make his debut in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 91 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at Watkins Glen this August. Räikkönen retired from F1 competition at the end of 2021 with 21 race wins, 103 podiums, and a world title in 2007. Now he will race stateside, and add to his stock car resume that already includes on two starts in NASCAR’s lower leagues. According to Räikkönen, he wasn’t actively searching for a racing seat. Instead, Marks came to him, literally, as he journeyed to the driver’s Switzerland home to convince Kimi to come aboard. “The Iceman’s” maiden Cup Series race will also be the first installation in Trackhouse’s PROJECT91 program—a NASCAR Cup Series entry in select races reserved for renowned international drivers. Currently, the group’s race team Trackhouse Racing fields two Cup Series entries with drivers Ross Chastain and Daniel Suárez.

Exhaust: From signing Pitbull as a co-owner to turning heads with glitzy car haulers, Justin Marks and his Trackhouse group know how to make a splash. And so far, its NASCAR team is living up to the hype in its sophomore year of Cup Series competition, having already notched two wins. PROJECT91 is yet another step in the expansion that promises to yield big impressions for the young team, regardless of results. In fact, the finishing position is likely the least important aspect of this venture. NASCAR competition is as rigorous—and cutthroat—as it is in Formula 1; gone are the days that open-wheel drivers like Foyt or Gurney could parachute into a one-off race and leave with the trophy. Instead, this announcement is a marketing play, a maneuver to dominate the NASCAR headlines while bring international notoriety to Trackhouse. The flying Finn is still totally relevant, and, less than a year into retirement, his stock car soiree will bring eyeballs to Cup for at least a weekend. “Kimi Räikkönen is the driver I first had in mind when we created PROJECT91,” says Marks. Come August, we’ll find out whether the first choice was the best.

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The 1990 C+C Music Factory hit “Things that Make You Go Hmmmm….” was all but lost in back of my mind with my other memories of fifth grade. At least until the sale of this 1984 Mk I Volkswagen Rabbit GTI wafted the song’s chorus back into my head.

I’m not looking to bash early GTIs. Although they’re not really my cup of tea, they have long had a cult following. They’re a hoot to drive, mechanically simple, and their design has a clean character that’s absent from most modern cars. And, with only 71,804 miles, this particular example has plenty of driving joy left to give its new owner.

What’s eyebrow raising about this sale is the vehicle’s overall condition relative to its $18,637.50 sale price. Paint is peeling from the front bumper, little dents and scratches were shown on several panels, and some overzealous jack work folded over the rockers. The seller noted that it needs a CV boot. Also, the radio, ash tray, sun visors, and shift boot are not installed, although spares are included for the interior pieces. It’s sat for the better part of eight years and the most recent records date from 2014. From a sale preparation standpoint, the car presents as if it were on a buy here, pay here used car lot rather than Bring a Trailer, which has become best known in recent years for spectacular examples.

Before you Bring a Pitchfork, I recognize that easy fixes and cosmetic issues won’t harm this Rabbit’s usability, and that the new owner was happy to pay for the ability to enjoy a personality-filled car. What this sale hints at, though, is yet another evolution in the car market.

In the pandemic era, we’re used to seeing good-condition Mk I Rabbit GTIs with 60,000-120,000 miles change hands for $15,000-$20,000. Last July (well into the pandemic’s value bump) a clean 1984 GTI changed hands for $17,745. What sets these two cars apart is condition and preparation. July’s example wasn’t without its own cosmetic foibles, but the car was complete (the seller committed to reinstalling the AC compressor prior to handing the car over), had a thorough recent service and detailing, and was clearly ready for its date with a new owner.

Throughout 2021, we observed that well-sorted, clean examples of any type of collector car would hit or exceed their marks while cars that needed attention weren’t yet securing a similar bump in value. Ten months ago, it took a great driver-quality Mk I GTI to hit this number. That this silver Rabbit GTI commanded a similar price suggests tolerances might be changing.

It’s unclear how much will be too much—we don’t know the threshold when a particular model’s following will decide that they’re not willing to pay a significant price for a car that needs a lot of necessary extra work. This example likely won’t break the new owner’s bank in order to get it ready to blast down some back roads. But in this already heated market, when we start to see price creep on entry-level collectibles like this Rabbit, that need an ever-growing list of parts and effort, we furrow our brows a little and say, “hmmmm….”

The post When an $18,000 Rabbit GTI makes you go “hmmm …” appeared first on Hagerty Media.

VW revives Scout name for EV after Navistar purchase 

Intake: Following in the footsteps of the Chrysler Airflow and Ford Lightning, the Volkswagen Group is dusting off the Scout name for a forthcoming electrified pickup and SUV. Posted in a tweet from their official Twitter account, Scout production is claimed to start in 2026. VW used the word “rugged” in their announcement to suggest this Scout won’t disappoint purists, those who’ve been previously let down by vehicles like the Chevy Blazer and Ford Bronco Sport.

Exhaust: The first thing most folks ask after this tweet is how VW obtained rights to the Scout name. Turns out that the VW Group acquired the trademarked name when its commercial truck business acquired Navistar (formerly International Harvester, the Scout’s original maker) last July. While nothing else can be gleaned from VW Group’s tweet, perhaps the attached rendering gives some insight into the Scout’s off-road prowess, as it sports shorter overhangs, upswept bumpers, and angular lines reminiscent of the original. Color us impressed, and we can’t wait to learn more.

The world’s cutest car race is ten years old

Intake: 2022 marks a decade since the splendid Settrington Cup was first held at the Goodwood Revival. The race for drivers aged 4-11 years old is a sprint down the Pit Lane Straight at the famous Sussex circuit where racers provide their own power. After a Le Mans style running start the junior James Hunts and wannabe Formula W pilots leap into identical Austin J40 pedal cars for a 240-yard dash to the checkered flag. To celebrate the tenth running of this remarkable race the Duke of Richmond is offering a seat in his very own J40 to the winner of a race flag design competition. The Settrington Cup will take place on Saturday and Sunday, September 17 and 18, and there’ll be a test day held during Goodwood’s Classic Car Sunday Breakfast Club meeting on July 24.

Exhaust: The only sounds you’ll hear are the oohs and aahs of the crowd as the smallest racers pedal furiously down the straight, but that doesn’t stop the Settrington Cup from being one of the highlights of the Revival Weekend. Bravo to Goodwood for starting them so young.

2023 Toyota Highlander drops V-6, adds more screens

Intake: Toyota is bringing a host of updates to its best-selling midsize SUV, the Highlander. The biggest news is under the hood, where a new 2.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine will replace Toyota’s stalwart 3.5-liter free-breathing V-6. The new mill produces 265 hp and 306 lb-ft of torque—it’s down 30 hp but gains 46 additional twists relative to the six. Fuel economy remains the same, at a Toyota-estimated 24 mpg combined. A Hybrid drivetrain is still offered, pairing a 2.5-liter naturally aspirated four-cylinder with two electric motor-generators. Total system output rings in at 243 hp, and hybrid Highlanders return a remarkable 36 mpg combined.

Exhaust: When we drove a 2021 Highlander Hybrid Platinum AWD, we found that while a minivan is still a better family car, the Highlander’s generous space, fuel efficiency, and handsome styling qualify it for the top spot in the American three-row SUV market. These updates aren’t particularly ground-breaking, but in true Toyota fashion, that’s kind of the point—smart companies don’t mess with a good thing too much.

McLaren doffs cap to Queen with new paint hue

Intake: British supercar marque McLaren has developed a unique Platinum Jubilee paint to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II’s 70 years on the throne. McLaren Special Operations worked with AkzoNobel to devise the majestic metallic hue, which took eight days to apply to an Artura demonstrator. The paint will be available to customers but the car’s Elizabeth II badging is a one-off.

Exhaust: Well-known as a car lover, Her Majesty learned to drive army ambulances as a teenager and has a lifelong love of British cars from Land Rovers to Bentleys. Expect more automotive tributes to follow as Britains celebrates her diamond jubilee.

Hyundai says things are still on with Rimac

Intake: We’ve heard directly from Hyundai regarding the status of its technical partnership with the Rimac Group, a three-year collaboration bearing fruit in two projects: A fuel-cell coupe and an electric sports car. Contrary to this May 2 report from Automotive News, all is well between the Korean and Croatian firms. “Hyundai and Kia remain invested in the Rimac Group, and can confirm there are currently several high-level partnership projects ongoing,” reads an official statement forwarded by Derek Joyce of Hyundai Motor North America. “Both parties recognize the value in this strategic partnership, and will continue to cooperate together in the future.” As of May of 2019, Hyundai invested $90M in the venture, purchasing a 12 percent stake in The Rimac Group together with sister firm Kia. We’ve also reached out to Rimac, but, as of this writing, have not heard back.

Exhaust: Sometimes rumors are just that. However, given Porsche’s increasing of its stake in Rimac from 10 to 24 percent in 2021, skeptics had reason to wonder whether Hyundai felt that Rimac’s attention was straying elsewhere. On top of Stuttgart’s additional investment, The Rimac Group purchased Bugatti from The VW Group last September, suggesting that its priorities were shifting away from its partnerships, which also include Aston Martin. Rimac can’t be all things to all companies … or can it? We’re just encouraged that Hyundai is pursuing the tire-smoking side of alternative powertrains, as the all-electric RM20e (above) and mysterious fuel-cell coupe (below) indicate. Good on N.

The post VW to resurrect Scout, Highlander drops V-6, Hyundai and Rimac still on appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Hertz unleashes 900-hp Shelby GT500 in select rental markets

Intake: Starting this summer, Hertz and Shelby American are kicking off a three-year partnership program by offering custom-built GT500 models with more than 900 supercharged hp alongside naturally aspirated Shelby GT-H models. (That’s a 140-hp upgrade from stock, for those counting.) The GT500-H cars will be available for rent at airports in Florida at the Fort Myers, Tampa, Miami, and Orlando airports; in Phoenix, Arizona; and in Shelby America’s home in Las Vegas. Only 25 will be built, 19 of which will be finished in black, with the rest wearing Oxford White to celebrate Shelby American’s 60th anniversary. The 5.0-liter Mustang–based Shelby GT-H convertibles and fastbacks will be available in Atlanta; Dallas, Texas; Tampa, Miami, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, and Fort Myers, Florida; Las Vegas; Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco; and in Phoenix, Arizona.

Exhaust: The 1966 Shelby GT350-H was Hertz’s first pairing with Shelby and the two brands have worked together several times since, offering hot-rodded Mustangs to eager renters in 2006, 2007, and 2016. These latest GT500-based models are Shelby’s most extreme offerings yet, and the low production volume bodes well for their collectibility—those examples that are released from Hertz’ lots without major abuse, that is.

VW may bring back Scout as Rivian rival

Intake: Volkswagen is reportedly looking likely to revive the Scout brand to front a new range of rugged electric pickups and SUVs. The German firm is voting on the plan today, reports TechCrunch. If given the go-ahead, the Scout would return as a C-segment competitor by 2026. VW gained the commercial rights to the Scout name in 2021, and the Maverick-sized trucks would be the first to wear the Scout badge of honor since the company’s demise in 1985. TechCrunch says VW is ready to invest $100 million in the new venture as part of its efforts to double its U.S. market share and dominate EV sales.

Exhaust: Only days ago we reported VW’s ambition to bring an electric truck to the United States. While there’s still talk of a pickup version of the ID Buzz, such vehicle wouldn’t appeal to those seeking an off road–capable workhorse or rugged recreational vehicle, which is where Scout could fit in nicely.

Harley-Davidson counters skeptics with $15K electric bike

Intake: Ever since Harley-Davidson spun the all-electric LiveWire One off into its own brand, we have been keenly awaiting  the announcement of a second act. That finally came yesterday, with the launch of the Del Mar. Leaning heavily on H-D’s flat-track roots, the Del Mar is centered around a set of 19-inch wheels, wide handlebars, and a slim tail section. Power comes from a 59.6-kW battery and range is expected to be around 100 miles. Target weight is 440 pounds. Pricing starts at $15,000, with deliveries expected to begin in spring of 2023. 

Exhaust: The 100 “Launch Edition” models, which wear unique wheels, hand-painted details, and serialized number plaques on their “gas tanks,” sold out in just 18 minutes. Indian has been selling the gas-powered FTR—which has similar styling—for a few years now, but that bike has lost some of its flat-track flair through the years. With a relatively limited range, the Del Mar can likely pack a more hooligan-style punch without concern for highway or long-distance manners. Critics of LiveWire were vocal about the One being too expensive; the Del Mar seems to be a direct answer. Will customers step up now that Harley has called their bluff?

Sport trim dresses up Honda’s Odyssey for the beaten path

Intake: While “sport” and “family vehicle” are two words that rarely find themselves next to each other, Honda is determined to bring a little edginess to its venerable Odyssey. The newly announced Sport slots right in the middle of the six available trims and equips the minivan with a host of black exterior pieces and Berlina Black 19-inch wheels. The interior gets a black headliner and red accented lighting. Power comes from the same 280-hp V-6 and 10-speed automatic transmission as found in the other five trims. Buyers looking for this extra flair will need to shell out $42,505 (including $1295 destination charge).

Exhaust: Minivans tend to be a love it or loathe it situation. In terms of functionality, they are hard to beat, but they rarely win on swagger. This trim adds some flair to the Odyssey—and is more dignified than the Sienna’s off-road Wilderness play—but we would have loved to see that sportiness blend over into the chassis or powertrain. Do we need a 400-hp minivan? No. Do we want one? Yes. 

Daydream believe it, there’s a Monkeemobile for sale

Intake: Why take the Last Train to Clarksville when you could drive a Monkeemobile instead? This perfect recreation of the Dean Jeffries–designed, 1966 Pontiac GTO–based quirky convertible was built for the Monkees in 2011 by New York’s James Benken. Mickey Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork, and Davy Jones marked 45 years of monkeying around by touring the U.K. in the V-8 drop-top, and the car remained there afterwards in the ownership of the tour driver. It has been signed by the band and comes with a selection of tour photos. Offered for sale on May 21 by Historics auctioneers at the U.K.’s Ascot Racecourse, the Monkeemobile is estimated to fetch between £60,000 and £90,000 ($74,000–$111,000). Hey! Hey!

Exhaust: Want to get the funniest looks from everyone you meet? Bid now on this Monkeemobile and you might even bag a bargain. An original fetched $360,000 at Barrett-Jackson’s Scottsdale auction in 2008, while Historics reports that similar replicas have sold for more than $240,000. Fans clearly don’t monkey around. This may be a GTO in name only, but it clearly boasts desirability independent of Pontiac lore. 

The post Rent Hertz’ 900-hp GT500, Harley’s $15K electric bike, Monkeemobile for sale appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Morrow County is home to the winding Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. In its environs you’ll find quaint patchwork of farm roads, four-way stops, and undulating surfaces. Though these strips of pavement are more tame than the serpentine paths of the Buckeye State’s lower half, they still provoke and delight. That’s especially true behind the wheel of a Golf R, VW’s hottest—and most expensive—performance machine. All-wheel drive, 315 horsepower, 310 lb-ft of torque, slotted discs the size of Nephilim dinner plates, all bundled in a 3100-pound package—I intended to make short work of Morrow County.

While I was driving, I noticed a small piece of paper looped through the wiper blade A ticket? A note, rather. It read:

“Just wanted to say that I absolutely love your car. It’s one of my dream cars. I hope you have fun with it.”
-Owner of the gray Tigaun Tiguan next to you

Thank you, dear Tiguan owner. 

Though the car is not mine personally, the compliment says a lot about the Golf R’s role in the VW lineup. It’s an exciting, aspirational vehicle that appeals most to a niche of dedicated Volkswagen fans. 

At present state, however, at least in America, VW is an SUV company. And the Tiguan is its best-selling model. The compact crossover and its two like-minded stablemates—the subcompact Taos and mid-size Atlas—totaled 71 percent of Vee-Dub’s U.S. sales in 2021.

On the backs of these lifted family haulers, VW appears to have finally understood Americans want. Since 2016, sales have grown from 322,000 to 366,000 in 2021, largely due to the Atlas that arrived in 2017 and the second-gen Tiguan that followed a year later. Part of this strategy was to double down on SUVs; VW axed the base Golf in America after the 2021 model year, choosing to import only the front-wheel drive GTI and the all-wheel-drive R to represent the Mark 8 Golf in stateside showrooms. If the death of an iconic, economical model such as the Golf has you asking that famous Ace question: “Hhhhooowwww Looonnng / has this been gooooing on?” then you somehow haven’t noticed the crossover’s stranglehold on customer tastes.

Meanwhile, there remains a passionate group of drivers who would much rather drive a hatchback than a subcompact crossover like the Taos. We count our readers among them, so this review is for you. (This one, too.) Our 2022 Golf R test car came dressed in coat of Pure White, replete with a black leather interior, a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, and a $995 destination charge—$45,440 out the door. That’s a hefty sticker even for a hot hatch. Let’s search for the value.

There isn’t much in the cabin, for starters. According to editor-at-large Sam Smith, the R’s interior is a step down from the previous, Mark 7 generation. As a someone who’s never sampled Golf prior to this Mark 8, I found the space to be rather handsome. It’s filled with satisfying lines, comfy seats, and exquisite materials. I guess ignorance is bliss?

The R-emblazoned front buckets are fit for track duty, offering enough mid-corner support from the bolsters, yet enough width and plush to shift about. Back seats are tight—albeit usable in a pinch—but that’s to be expected in a car this size. In contrast, the front half of the cabin feels quite spacious. A massive, curved windshield, narrow A-pillars, and large windows combine for an amphitheater-like view of the road. Plenty of helmet headroom and suitable sightlines bodes well for track rats, too. And you could haul a set of race rubber with the rear seats folded, no problem. A dialed Harman/Kardon system—with a center blaster and subs—divinely fill the space with sound. If Bose setups are hammers, this configuration is a jazz brush. Vocals, synth waves, and bass lines can be mentally isolated with ease.

Where Sam and I agree is that the touch-sensitive controls and the corresponding pads on the steering wheel significantly worsen the experience of living with this king of Golfs. More on that later.

Like a well-tailored suit, the Golf R’s curb appeal is best appreciated by its cognoscenti. In the looks department, the Golf R is much more subtle than its wild Veloster N or Civic Type R competitors. Subtle nods to let the viewer in on its performance pedigree include four chrome exhaust tips, 19-inch alloy wheels, valence-like bumpers and side skirts, blue brake calipers, and a rear wing extended from the roofline. Your car-loving friends may ogle, but highway patrol won’t look twice.

Good thing, too, because this hot-rod Golf hauls. The EA888 2.0-liter turbo-four blasts the R to 60 mph in less than four seconds, and that’s despite the engine’s palpable turbo lag. Balancing the equation is VW’s dual-clutch gearbox, a rapid-fire cog-shuffling machine that executes commands as if hardwired to the driver’s brain. A six-speed manual is also available. Operators can select from six modes: “Comfort,” “Sport,” “Race,” “Drift,” “Special,” and “Custom,” which vary in steering heft, throttle response, and shift times. The new “Drift” mode makes use of the Golf R’s torque-vectoring rear axle by sending all available torque to the outer rear wheel when cornering, while the “Special” mode slacks the suspension and optimizes the AWD torque vectoring for the hellish conditions of the Nürburgring Nordschleife. A bit corny, sure, but Easter eggs for are for the fanboys.

Regardless of modes, VW’s Haldex-based all-wheel drive system shines. In previous Golfs, the system could send up to 50 percent of the engine’s total power to the rear axle via a single multi-plate clutch. In addition to distributing drive power between front and rear sticks, the Mark 8’s system manages the aforementioned torque vectoring by using a rear diff with two electronically controlled multi-plate clutches. Mid-corner acceleration is a concerted digital effort, with all four wheels digging as dictated by a central computer crunching numbers from a variety of sensors. Bringing the whole show to a stop are the 14.1-inch front and 12.2-inch rear discs. VW’s electromechanical braking produces ideal pedal feel with a soft touch for stoplights and a strong tip-in for hairpins.

The ferocious five-door’s versatility is also its downfall, in some circumstances. There is more power and grip here than can be explored on a public road, but the weight of the sunroof will not do it any favors on track. As for the suspension, only the softest setting spares the molars on rough roads.

No element, however, is more ill-conceived than the R’s leather-wrapped steering wheel. In one aspect it’s a delicious piece that feels just as tactile for track shenanigans as a Momo Prototipo—ample chunk, comfortable grips, and a perfect diameter. However, the two lateral spokes feature a pair of plastic, touch-sensitive trackpads for cruise control, driving mode selection, menu navigation, and audio controls. If you consistently reshuffle your hands during big inputs—say, while on track or on a mountain pass—you will likely graze a button or two. An errant palm or finger might prompt a spike in volume or activate the heated wheel. If anything, this tech is better suited to VW’s relaxed, upscale Arteon.

The infotainment stack is no better. Nothing like an overly complex 10-inch touchpad display to make your 32-year-old author feel twice his age. With no real place to rest your hand or thumb, basic inputs (combined with the jostling ride) turn into the world’s most infuriating game of pin the tail on the donkey. Navigation through the submenus is logical, but I just wish there were a few more analog buttons to support quick changes mid-cruise. And should you wish to plug in a device, be sure to pack a USB-C cord. No big 3.0 ports can be be found anywhere within the cabin.

Most people can get used to all of these quirks, though they will be dealbreakers for some. Overall, there is plenty of raison d’être for VW’s all-wheel-drive buzzbomb, especially when you consider its position in the enthusiast space. Rival hatches like Veloster N and Civic Type R are both front-wheel-drive. Its platform-mate, the Audi S3, is a $10,000 more expensive sedan when comparably equipped, and it doesn’t even have the torque-vectoring rear diff. Toyota’s GR Corolla—the only vehicle similar in size, performance, and pull—hasn’t even left the assembly line. The GR Corolla’s rally roots, styling, and dual-locking-diff hardware also suggest a personality not quite as mature or refined as the Golf’s. As for the Subaru STI, it’s dead entirely.

Though the GTI checks a lot of the same boxes, the Golf R offers something special to the VW faithful. That the company takes the trouble of importing performance versions of a car it doesn’t even sell here in standard form says a lot about their enduring popularity and appeal. As long as the people that attend “Waterfests,” make daily visits to VWvortex, and leave an endearing notes under windshield wipers under Golf Rs want them, love letters like this from Wolfsburg are sure to satisfy.

***

2022 VW Golf R 2.0T

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BMW’s new 7 Series is more than a big set of kidneys

Intake: Brace yourself, BMW loyalists. The 2023 BMW 7 Series has officially been released, wearing many of BMW’s seemingly mandatory design cues: elephantine kidney grilles, highly visible running lights with recessed headlights, aggressive body surfacing, a classic Hofmeister kink in the daylight opening, and impossibly thin taillights. While a fully electric model (dubbed the i7) is available, turbocharged I-6 and V-8 mills are still in the mix. No matter the powertrain, BMW’s new flagship is 5.1 inches longer, and sports a 2-inch bump in height. The minimalist interior is on par with modern luxury vehicles, but the jeweled surfaces (where wood trim once lived) are an unexpected upgrade. And, of course, BMW’s hallmark iDrive controller keeps the new interior technology easily at hand.

Exhaust: Sometimes beauty is skin deep … and sometimes it’s regrettably misleading. The seventh-gen 7 Series is boxier and sports a very polarizing grille but what’s inside truly counts. More to the point, its guts are the stuff of flagship-sedan dreams, and the bevy of internal-combustion models continues its appeal to a traditional, global customer base that hasn’t fully embraced electrification. Have a look at the full press release to see why the new BMW 7 Series is more than just a pair of big grilles.

Supply chain woes offer reality check for EV production

Intake: While industrialized nations are moving at a furious pace towards vehicle electrification, we are hearing even more warning signs than before from top automotive executives. A new report from Reuters quotes BMW CEO Oliver Zipse saying the push toward EVs will “increase dependency on very few countries” since, for example, a large amount of raw materials used for batteries come from China. Supply-chain issues lie elsewhere, too. R.J. Scaringe, CEO of Rivian expresses anguish with the hurdles experienced to acquire semiconductors for his startup operation in a competitive market for parts and materials. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Scaringe noted that “90 to 95 percent of the supply chain does not exist.” And if the reality of what’s on the ground can’t meet the expectations of governments around the world, BMW CEO Zipse notes that “if you are not selling combustion engines anymore, someone else will.”

Exhaust: Sometimes good intentions are just that. As the pandemic affects the global labor market, as the supply chain faces countless external and internal threats, and as rare-earth availability remains subject to high international tensions, the truth of EV production may not be able to match many governments’ electrification intentions. Perhaps the timeline is too aggressive, but the reality of EVs isn’t dead yet: The Biden Administration’s loan guarantee for a graphite supplier for Tesla and the Stellantis/LG battery plant in Canada front-loads expenses for a long-term vision that is likely to become a reality. Just perhaps not as quickly as some wished.

This is the U.S.-spec electric Microbus in disguise

Intake: Don’t let the modern-day Transporter skin fool you: This is actually VW’s retrotastic ID. Buzz. More importantly, for the U.S. audience, it’s a test mule for the long-wheelbase version, the only configuration that the states will get. As VW promised at the New York auto show, proportions won’t be sacrificed for the additional cabin room; the extra cubic inches will come courtesy of a stretch between the axles. In addition to three rows of seating instead of just two, the North American version will offer the option of all-wheel drive, delivered via a second motor on the front axle. So far, we only know power output for the single-motor version: 201 hp and 299 lb-ft of torque. The all-wheel-drive ID.4 may offer a clue, since it rides on the same modular EV architecture (MEB) as the reborn Bus. The amorphous little crossover makes 295 hp and 339 of torque from two motors and offers between 245 and 251 miles of range. 

Exhaust: Americans still have two more years to wait before the electric Buzz arrives in 2024, but there’s every indication that VW has a hit on its hands. Unlike its ID. 4 stablemate, which looks like approximately every other electric pillbug roaming the streets, the Buzz will look like nothing else, making it instantly recognizable in and out of the enthusiast community. Can this spacious, stylish hauler capture the hearts of a new generation like original Microbus did? 

Yoke or no yoke: How would you spec your Lexus EV?

Intake: The swishy Lexus version of the Toyota bZ4X will be available with controversial yoke steering. However, unlike the system fitted by Tesla, the Lexus RZ 450e employs steer-by-wire which should avoid all the awkward arm-twirling as there is no mechanical connection between the One Motion Grip yoke and the wheels. Instead, electric motors change the front wheel direction based on the driver’s inputs on the yoke and other factors such as speed. The yoke only turns a maximum of 150 degrees so you need never cross your hands to make even the tightest turn. For those not taken by the technology the good news is that drive-by-wire will be an optional extra.

The Lexus RZ 450e sits on Toyota’s e-TNGA platform with the battery pack sitting low in the chassis. A 150 kW (204 hp) electric motor drives the front axle and an 80 kW (109 hp) unit serves the rear wheels. There’s an intelligent AWD system called DIRECT4 which monitors vehicle speed, steering angle and g-forces to supply the appropriate amount of torque to each axle at all times. With a 71.4 kWh battery pack Lexus says that the RZ will be able to drive more than 250 miles on a charge (as calculated by the European WLTP cycle).

Design-wise, there’s clearly a lot shared with the bZ4X, but the Lexus has its own accents. Moving on from its “spindle grille” Lexus says it has applied a spindle theme to the whole body. There are more elegant, gloss wheel arch trims and side skirts, and available two-tone paintwork to set it apart from it’s less expensive relative. Inside, alongside more premium materials there’s a large clear panoramic roof which can be dimmed electronically if the sun gets too bright. There’s a new Lexus Link UX which is promised to be faster and more intuitive with cloud-based navigation and conversational voice recognition. Prices are expected to start at around $50,000 when the car is released later this year.

Exhaust: Lexus says that its drive-by-wire system “still provides feel and feedback at all times, maintaining a strong connection between driver and car.” The proof will be in the driving, of course.

BMW 2002 reborn as an electric restomod

Intake: The big news from BMW today may be the new i7, but a small German specialist has quietly introduced a battery-powered 2002. Bavarian Econs Tech Gmbh offers its electric restomod 2002te in two flavors: Elektro and Econ. Elektro ditches the engine and transmission in favor of a 161 hp rear-mounted electric motor which is enough to see the 2,535-lb BMW to 60 mph in 6.2 seconds. Top speed is 150 mph and the range is up to 180 miles–rather less if you deploy all the power. Bavarian Econs says it won’t limit production of the Elektro and, EV swap aside, will leave the car alone. The Econ version pushes power up to 250 hp, and gets a hand-built body with an interior design tailored to each of the five customers it will be offered to. Prices on request.

Exhaust: Compact and light, the 2002te is the antithesis of the current crop of EVs and all the more appealing as a result. Perhaps even our own 2002-owning Sam Smith would approve?

U2-chasing Pontiac G8 GT for sale

Intake: GovDeals.com is auctioning off a Pontiac G8 GT that was used to help U2 reconnaissance planes land safely. The chase cars followed the planes and helped provide an extra set of eyes for the pilots, and the cars used for this particular mission were selected because of their high-performance attributes. This particular Air Force veteran has just under 40,000 miles and has a bid of $24,200.00. When in service, the chase vehicles had a light bar on the roof, but this one has been repaired and repainted. It has less than a day remaining, so we’ll see if its price climbs higher than the $24,200 current bid, which is a bit higher than the #2 (Excellent) value.

Exhaust: With its short production run, capable chassis, handsome lines, and V-8 power, the Pontiac G8 has all the makings of a fine collectible. The LS3-powered six-speed GXP made our 2019 Bull Market list and the automatic-equipped GT is also a fine V-8-powered sport sedan in its own right. We’re not sure that this G8’s military career will add much to its auction value, but at the least, it gives the next owner a great story to tell to the car’s admirers. 

The post BMW’s new 7 Series, U.S.-spec Microbus EV in disguise, spy plane–chasing Pontiac appeared first on Hagerty Media.

It’s the Mystery Machine!” shouted Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest when they saw Volkswagen’s new ID. Buzz. The affably cartoonish prototype, revealed last month, made the rounds in New York this week—first on Seacrest’s morning show, then at the 2022 New York Auto Show (NYAS).

It’s no mystery that VW’s more dignified lexicon would cast the ID. Buzz as a “people mover,” but any attempt to normalize such a lifeless title is confusing. This thing is too damn good at provoking smiles.

In 2024, the U.S. will be getting a long-wheelbase version with three rows of seats and sliding doors—good ol’ fashioned van traits that most Americans know and love. Nein! Halt! Call it Buzz, a Bus, people mover if you must, but the Buzz must stand entirely on its own, never to be compared with that joyless lot! It’s got flair and flavor for all! It knows no segment! The fear of such a beloved nameplate being pigeonholed as family transportation is real, but rather than run from dreaded minivan comparisons, team Buzz ought to embrace them: It’s as a van that the Buzz makes its strongest case.

Throughout the history of vanning, vandom, and its many vanbases, three predominant waves emerged. Let’s unofficially refer to them as the rad, the homely, and the hip.

The rad encompasses your muscled-up custom Dodges, Fords, Chevys/GMCs of the ’70s and early ’80s. Niche, edgy and underrated classics worthy of ink in their own right, but not entirely practical or efficient enough for a family. The homely is where the usual suspects reside: porky yet purposeful utilitarian models like the Odyssey, Sienna, and the erstwhile Sedona (replaced by the Carnival for 2022). All purpose, little pleasure, and virtually no personality. The hip was a rare breed because it unlocked a magical combination of both previous categories—the street appeal of the rad and the usability of the homely. And the only marque to have pulled off “hip” in van form was VW, with its iconic microbus, which dominated counterculture in multiple ways for decades.

“What makes a bus, a bus? [The original T1] was really successful because of the interior packaging, interior space, and being able to load all of your friends, family, and gear in there, and we’ve achieved that [with the ID. Buzz],” says Jeffrey Lear, VW America’s program manager for the MEB platform, the modular electric architecture that underpins the Buzz and its ID.4 stablemate.

“You want to be seen in this car, it’s a style icon, it’s a design piece as well … for anyone, and everyone,” he continues. “You don’t have to have a family to drive this thing.”

Amid an ever-rising tide of toaster-like electric crossovers, the Buzz’s arrival is timely. When it does finally go on sale here in America in 2024, the Buzz won’t look like anything else on the road. Its unusual silhouette brings a powerful advantage that few vans have leveraged since the original T1 stormed the market. Two-tone paint schemes, flat “slab-design” body panels, flush wheels, and large circular logos all hearken back to the original, some of which are made only possible under today’s engineering standards. No simple task for VW’s team.

“It has to blend in with the ID. family, and say ‘I’m a modern Volkswagen, I’m electric,’” says Lear. “But of course, it also has to look like a Bus. And I think we really achieved that.”

Though the U.S. will only get the long-wheelbase version, front and rear overhangs will remain unaffected, as will the powertrain, centered on a rear-mounted, 201-hp electric motor. The stretch will occur between the front and rear wheels to preserve proportions while generating the additional leg and cargo room that Americans (and their kids and dogs) expect.

“Bigger generally works … [the Euro-spec version] is the length of the Tiguan, which is super manageable in the city … the long version, it’s not like it’s going to be the [Jeep] Grand Cherokee L,” Lear jokes.

The interior is open, airy, and upright. It’s fully outfitted with VW’s latest tech and even features fold-down tray tables in the seat backs. The juxtaposition of screen and plastic work-surface is comical but practical when you consider that tech-obsessed younglings expect their devices to be in easy reach at all times. As a pre-series prototype, the inside options shown thus far are all, of course, open to alteration, but there won’t be any shortage of electrically enhanced features and technologies in the modern-day Buzz.

Fans of the classic Microbus may balk at this electric resurrection, not to mention VW’s attempts to leverage its retro aesthetic to an audience that wasn’t even alive for Woodstock. But it truly feels as though VW’s designers made an honest, respectful effort to capture the allure of the original Bus and infuse it into the EV successor. If first in-person impressions are anything to go by, they’ve proven successful: The ID. Buzz brings as much unapologetic quirk to 2022 as what the original did over seventy years ago (sans the socio-economic subtext, of course).

European preorders begin in May of this year, and deliveries will commence this fall. The North American market won’t see its long-wheelbase debut until early 2023, with sales slated for 2024. For now, we’ll have to wait while the Americanized Buzz continues to take shape.

Never underestimate the power of a vehicle that can conjure up the kid in you at first glance. If the price is palatable, the allure of owning a hip, two-toned Mystery Machine may prove too hard to ignore.

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240-mph “KillaJoule,” custom electric Harley descend on L.A.

Intake: Electric motorcycles are getting lots of attention these days, but that doesn’t mean they are a novelty. A new exhibit at Los Angeles’ Petersen Museum opens to the public Thursday, April 14, and will feature “the most innovative electric motorcycles ever made by cutting-edge designers.” A few notable inclusions are the 500-hp, home-built “KillaJoule,” driven by Eva Håkansson to 240.7 mph in 2014. The feat made her the fastest woman on an electric motorcycle, though the rig’s third wheel—necessary for stability—technically classifies it as a “sidecar streamliner.” Håkansson’s KillaJoule will be joined by “The One,” a six-figure, retro-futuristic design from Curtiss Motorcycles making its worldwide debut in L.A. There’s even a “Solar Scooter” built entirely from salvaged and recycled materials. April’s exhibit marks the second time electric motorcycles have been featured at this museum, with their first en-masse appearance occurring back in 2019.

Exhaust: The history of electric motorcycles traces back to two-wheeler’s very earliest days. For both customizers and manufactures alike, an electric machine gives a lot of leeway for customization and design. (Though in KillaJoule’s case, the necessity of a third wheel for stability at highspeeds classified it as a “sidecar streamliner” and not a bike.) This freedom, combined with ever-improving battery and motor technology means electric bikes are a package that go as well as they show. The Petersen’s latest exhibit will highlight both ends of the spectrum well. 

Mitsubishi’s smallest SUVs gains standard AWD for 2023

Intake: A year after receiving its first facelift (in 2022), Mitsubishi’s compact SUV is getting another round of upgrades for 2023, its sixth year on the market. In addition to aesthetic tweaks such as a new 18-inch wheel design and now-standard LED head- and fog lights, there’s a significant mechanical upgrade: All-wheel drive is now standard, even on the $27,090 base ES model (price includes destination). The deal gets sweeter thanks to another collection of standard equipment: lane-departure alert and forward-collision warning. The 2023 MY Eclipse Cross will cost $800 more than its 2022 sibling, but consider that adding AWD to a 2022 model, which comes standard with front-wheel drive, costs nearly $1600. Not a bad deal, with the extra aesthetic kit.

Exhaust: Though the Eclipse Cross doesn’t beat its competitors on speed or fuel efficiency, we found the 2022 model to be a delightfully weird, well-built offering in a notoriously bland segment. The 2023 MY updates should make it that much more compelling, especially for buyers who regularly deal with slush and snow. 

VW is cutting combustion cars and driving upmarket

Intake: Volkswagen is to axe 60 percent of its ICE-powered vehicles by 2030 and shift to selling fewer, but more profitable cars. “The key target is not growth,” VW finance boss Arno Antlitz told the Financial Times. “We are (more focused) on quality and on margins, rather than on volume and market share,” he added. Currently the VW group sells more than 100 models across its brands and that number will be dramatically cut to boost the bottom line. Instead of chasing the headline-grabbing world number one status which former CEO Martin Winterkorn wanted the company aims to increase profits without increasing production. “We are not adding capacity: we rework factory by factory,” said Antlitz.

Exhaust: By 2030 VW will be all-in on electric cars, but don’t expect them to be true “cars of the people” as prices will remain premium even as the cost of battery technology decreases. It’s a strategy being employed throughout the industry as it comes to terms with huge changes in legislation, the global economy and buyers’ habits, as re-iterated by BMW CEO Oliver Zipse who said, “I would like to really emphasize that we are not driving a volume strategy.”

Porsche, Polestar, and BMW are very into carbon-fiber alternatives

Intake: Bcomp, a Swiss materials company exploring alternative materials for carbon fiber components, has closed a Series B funding round of roughly $35M as it seeks to grow its footprint and production scaling capabilities. Among the investors are a handful of automakers interested in the viability of flax-fiber panels as replacements for some of their current carbon-fiber applications. BMW, through its I Ventures investment arm, led the funding and currently uses Bcomp’s ampliTex and powerRibs technologies in motorsports applications from its M4 DTM car to the newly announced BMW M4 GT customer racing car. Volvo used some of Bcomp’s panels in the 2021 Volvo Concept Recharge car, and says it intends to help its subsidiary Polestar adopt the materials tech for most of the interior panels on the forthcoming Polestar 5. Meanwhile, Porsche worked alongside Bcomp to develop the first natural fiber composite motorsport door in 2019, and now uses ampliTex and powerRibs tech in the production of the Cayman 718 GT4 CS MR, as well as the highly anticipated all-electric Mission R concept car.

Exhaust: Bcomp claims that its natural fiber composite tech offers significantly higher vibration damping than carbon-fiber counterparts, and the flax-based panels reduce the risk of sharp shattering, which can make handling broken carbon-fiber bits a dangerous endeavor. The tech is still clearly in a nascent stage, but plant-based alternatives for panels are certainly more environmentally friendly. Volvo has put plant-based textiles into play for some of its higher end models to court more environmentally-conscious consumers, and Bcomp’s tech will likely enable other automakers to pitch a similar appeal in future models.

Will Ferrari 512 BB’s rare, custom front clip be reunited with the car?

Intake: The 512 BB LM was the endurance-racing version of Ferrari’s road-going, flat-12-powered supercar. While the first series of cars proved unreliable, the second and third series of the BB LM proved themselves worthy. Career highlights included first in the GTX class and fifth overall at the 1981 24 Hours of Le Mans. While most of these race cars were clothed in aerodynamic bodywork developed by Pininfarina, a custom front end was fitted to the second 512 BB LM (chassis #35529) and delivered to Fabrizio Violati’s Scuderia Bellancauto team in Rome. In its racing debut, the car won the IMSA GTX/GTP class at the 1000km of Monza in April 1981 and went on to race in two 24 Hours of Le Mans races, as well as the 1982 6 Hours of Enna-Pergusa, and the 1000km of Mugello. Now, this custom front end is being auctioned by Car & Classic, giving the owner of the car (which was purchased at auction for nearly $2.2 million less than five months ago) an opportunity to reunite the two.

Exhaust: Components of actively campaigned race cars often become scattered and lost to time, so this is a rare opportunity for the Ferrari’s owner to gather another piece of the car’s history. And for someone who can’t quite afford a Le Mans racer, it would make a cool piece of garage art that has some impressive history behind it.

New AMG 43 is the first four-pot SL since the ’50s

Intake: Mercedes-AMG has announced its entry-level SL with half the cylinder count of the SL 55 and SL 63. Not since the 190 SL of 1955 has Mercedes’ roadster been available with less than six cylinders, while buyers from 1992 to 2018 could opt for double that number with a variety of V-12s. The SL 43 will be no slouch, though as Mercedes-AMG has borrowed from its multiple championship-winning F1 team and fitted an electric exhaust gas turbocharger to the two-liter engine, which is a world first for a production car. Driven by a 48-volt mild-hybrid electrical system the e-turbo can spin at up to 170,000 rpm and provides a rapid throttle response and plenty of low down torque. Between 3250 rpm and 5000 rpm there’s 354 lb-ft of twist, and maximum power is 381 hp at 6750 rpm. A further 14 hp boost is available from the car’s integrated starter generator. Drive is to the rear wheels through a nine-speed auto transmission with a wet start-off clutch. Off the line the SL 43 will reach 62 mph in 4.9 seconds and its top speed is 171 mph. Prices will be announced nearer to its U.S. launch date.

Exhaust: The SL has a history of an early adoption when it comes to technology. The 300SL of 1954 was the first production car with direct gasoline injection, so it’s reassuring to see the new AMG SL43 carrying on the tech tradition.

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U.K. shop releases the 250 GTO schematics that Ferrari never did

Intake: Britain’s GTO Engineering has done something Ferrari never did by releasing a full set of technical schematic drawings for the 1959 through ’64 250 Series. (And on Maranello’s 75th anniversary year, too.) The shop, famous for its restoration work and its 250 SWB recreation, possessed drawings for more than 50 different Ferraris, but the 250 was missing. Using the firm’s scanning and CAD skills, GTO Engineering created a set of 33 drawings from scratch, detailing hundreds of components across 80 pages of a coffee table-worthy book which is now on sale online for around $130 plus shipping.

Mark Lyon, founder and managing director of GTO Engineering, says: “I remember, before we embarked upon this project, adapting the schematics for a Ferrari 330 with a pencil and trying to match up the part numbers. It was a real mess, and only made sense to me. Ever since that day I’ve wanted to be able to create from scratch our own technical drawings for the 250 series. There’s also a key sense of achievement in that every component within the schematics, matches a valid part number that we can sell to our customers.”

Exhaust: Whether you’re brave enough to be getting your wrenches out on a Ferrari 250 or just looking for some engineering art, this project from GTO Engineering looks like a worthy purchase. It’s also another testament to GTO Engineering’s dedication to the Ferrari marque, whose vintage offerings it supports with hand-built replacement parts. Somehow, the firm has even found time to develop its own V-12-powered, modern-day riff on the GTO.

Five years and $124M later, Honda completes first full-scale wind tunnel in U.S.

Intake: Honda just opened a $124M wind tunnel testing facility in East Liberty, Ohio, that can test vehicles at speeds up to 193 mph—perhaps not necessary for the next-gen CR-V, but vital for the firm’s high-performance offerings and for its race cars. Along with the massive fans capable of generating winds that represent such high speeds, the facility also features a rolling road belt system to simulate the road noise generated from the wheels contacting the tarmac. The facility features 556 high-tech microphones and cameras to pinpoint areas that generate wind noise, which Honda will focus on reducing with its forthcoming electric vehicles. It’s Honda’s first full-scale facility of its kind here in the states, though the company has three such tunnels in Japan and another facility in the U.S. that can test 40 percent–scale models. Honda also plans to offer access to the facility to other firms for testing, just as it does for crash testing at the Transportation Research Center, an independent proving ground owned by Honda also located in East Liberty.Three of the other full-size automotive wind tunnels in North America are also in the Midwest—specifically, in Michigan: Ford’s $200 M facility in Allen Park, Stellantis’ in Auburn Hills, and GM’s in Warren. Though not affiliated with an OEM, the wind tunnel in Ontario Tech University’s Automotive Center for Excellence can also simulate different weather conditions.

Exhaust: Honda knows that reducing wind noise will be paramount to creating to serene driving experience that’s essential to an EV’s proposition (Honda wants to sell zero-emission vehicles exclusively by 2040). With no engine and exhaust notes to outshout the wind, Honda will lean on this facility to deliver the incremental gains to shush the moving air. EVs’ prioritization of aerodynamic efficiency can result in some ovoid machines—just look Mercedes’ EQS electric flagship sedan—but such lozenge-like silhouettes are necessary to optimize cruising range. That said, if teasers for the new HR-V compact SUV are any indication, we’re still holding out hope that Honda can produce visually enticing hardware.

VW injects $7.1B into North American–based vehicle development, production

Intake: VW is putting its money where its mouth is when it comes to EVs. The company just announced a $7.1B investment in North American development and production of batteries and vehicles. That sum rivals Ford’s $7B commitment to product electric F-150s in Stanton, Tennessee and batteries in central Kentucky. Ford and VW use the same South Korean supplier: SK Innovation, which is attempting to finish construction of two battery plants in Georgia after LG Tech won an import ban on its rival importer from the United States Trade Commission after suing for misappropriation of trade secrets. (Ford and VW were excepted from the ban.) Internal-combustion models will begin to drop from VW’s portfolio beginning this year as the manufacturer aims to eliminate combustion engines by early next decade. Additional electric SUVs are headed stateside in 2026 to join the ID. 4, slated to begin production in this year and the reborn electric Microbus (ID. Buzz), due in 2024.

While VW is earmarking $22M for a Battery Engineering Lab in Chattanooga, and a “Center of Excellence” there and in Belmont, California, it’s unclear from this most recent announcement exactly what VW is planning to do about the battery packs and what role SK Innovation will play. What we do know: Motors will be built in Mexico by “the middle of the decade,” and the bodies and interiors of North American-market vehicles will be designed and engineered stateside by 2030.

Exhaust: VW is betting that, in eight years, 55 percent of U.S. sales will be all-electric. Given that BEVs currently comprise less than three percent of new-vehicle sales, according to the Department of Transportation, VW’s prediction seems par for the optimistic course. What is encouraging is VW’s focus on local engineering and design in addition to production. The latter saves on importation costs, but together the former two promise to give the U.S. more input on the VWs sold here.

GM to export “iconic” vehicles to China

Intake: Barely three months after China lifted its requirement that all foreign automakers partner with a local brand, GM has announced a new business unit taking advantage of the opening. As GM president Mark Reuss tells CNN Business, this “startup” within GM will introduce “iconic” vehicles that China hasn’t yet seen, including “a pretty aspirational Cadillac.” Other specifics are scarce, but the selection will include both electric and internal-combustion models.

Exhaust: We initially thought that Reuss was referring to the upcoming Escalade V as the Cadillac in question, but the CT5-V Blackwing surely is an alternate possibility. Could an imported buffet of new-to-market, high-luxury vehicles give Chinese customers a taste for American-flavored products? Imagine the C8 Corvette, which is currently unavailable in China, becoming the country’s middle-class, gotta-have-it supercar. By volume, China is GM’s largest market. In 2021, GM delivered 2.2 million vehicles to the U.S. but 2.9 million to China. Behind the 1.4 million vehicles produced under GM’s local partner Wuling, which included China’s best-selling EV that year, Buick was the strongest GM brand. (Wuling is one of GM’s 10 joint ventures in China.) However, Cadillac’s sales report includes some interesting details: China preferred the CT5 sedan to all other Caddys, even the XT6 three-row SUV.

Suzuki is set to start selling flying cars

Intake: Suzuki has a signed a deal with Japanese flying car startup SkyDrive to work together on developing and marketing its vertical takeoff and landing vehicle. SkyDrive has already built a single-seater prototype and plans a two-seater craft that could fly for 30 minutes at up to 62 mph at a height of over 1500 feet. SkyDrive is backed by several other big Japanese companies including NEC and Eneos and aims to launch a flying-car taxi service in Osaka in 2025.

Exhaust: The arrangement with Suzuki focuses on opening the Indian market to SkyDrive, where Suzuki holds around 50 percent of the car market and is investing over $1 billion in a factory to produce EVs and batteries. Flying cars would become Suzuki’s fourth mobility business after cars, motorcycles, and outboard motors.

The post First-ever 250 GTO schematics published, VW’s $7.1B bet on U.S. EVs, Suzuki flies to India? appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Whether you slept in one at Woodstock, passed the many that once clogged the right lanes of America’s freeways, or inherited one when your grandparents finally bought an Acura and moved to The Villages in Florida, the VW Microbus has spent six decades clattering into our hearts. Now, after many broken promises, VW plans to bring back the Bus, minus the clatter, in about two years. For real this time, it promises.

Buyers are pretty meh on minivans these days, but VW’s new all-electric ID. Buzz could be the 400-volt jolt that the segment needs to be hot again for the first time since magician Doug Henning was hocking Plymouth Voyager “magic wagons.” The Buzz uses much of the electric hardware from the ID.4 crossover including its 82 kW/hour, 240-mile-range battery, DC fast-charging capability, IQ Drive suite of safety tech, and 201-hp/229 lb-ft electric drive motor mounted in the rear—just as the engines were in the old Bus. Cue the Purple Haze.

The only whinge-point is that the U.S. won’t see its first ID. Buzz until 2024, assuming production schedules hold up in the face of a global semiconductor shortage as well as other supply chain issues. And we won’t get the plucky compact people-mover you see here, which goes on sale in Europe this fall in passenger and cargo versions. Rather, we’ll get a longer and more loaded three-row version with optional all-wheel-drive via a separate front motor. A “hand-raiser” page for it goes up today, March 9, for people who want to get in line early.

Because this is Volkswagen, which often seems to give buyers what they really crave only by sheer accident, the company won’t commit to offering a U.S. camper version. You can hear the arguments in Wolfsburg: “I know Ford is making bank on off-road nostalgia with the Bronco, and Subaru sells 600,000 units a year to people whose highest aspirations are sleeping in a tent on a car roof, but we … are … Volkswagen!”

So, the U.S. gets a long-wheelbase urban family mover for now, because “Americans need more space, right?” Those are the words of Jeffrey Lear, Volkswagen of America’s program manager for the electric MEB family, which so far includes the ID.4 crossover and the forthcoming Buzz. MEB is a German acronym for Modularer E-Antriebs Baukasten, or modular electric-drive kit, the mechanical basis for what is expected to be 80 percent of VW’s electric portfolio by 2025. Lest you think Lear is part of the problem, he describes his job as “spending all day fighting for stuff.” He allows that in 2025 there will be an ID. Buzz California (the camper version, sold in many places but not currently California or any other U.S. state), and he will probably have to fight the Germans for it with the same conviction that it took to capture Metz. We wish him Godspeed.

Does the Buzz look like the original Bus? Well … sort of. A flat nose, slab sides, clipped overhangs, and a squared-off rear are all vintage Bus cues. Of course, safety wins out and the driver and front passenger retreat behind the front axle, as they did back in 1990 with the T4 Eurovan. The driver and front passenger seats are also positioned inward for side-impact safety, meaning it’s a bit of a stretch over the wide sill to climb up into the driver’s seat. VW scalloped out the threshold to make an obvious footstep there.

At least the Buzz has less of a schnoz than its T4-T6 forerunners because there’s no internal-combustion lump up front making heat or threatening to pile-drive into the front compartment in a head-on collision. The result is a side profile that is new to the industry. If the original Bus was a “1-box” design per industry lingo, this is a 1.15-box design and perhaps the first entirely new car shape to come about strictly because of the switch to electric power. Late-model Japanese domestic microvans such as the Mitsubishi Minicab and Suzuki Every are perhaps the ID. Buzz’s closest analogues.

The Euro-spec Buzz—don’t call it the T7, that’s a separate gas-powered model for overseas markets—has a 117.6-inch wheelbase, 8.7 inches longer than the ID.4. We’d expect the Yankee-spec Buzz to get another four to six inches. The designers pushed the wheels out to the corners, making for hangar-like interior space under the tall roof. It needs it because the middle and third seat rows don’t fold down into the floor as they do in most current minivans owing to the 1100-pound box of lithium-ion batteries and the electric drive gear already taking up the basement. Instead, the Buzz’s seatbacks hinge down flat and VW will offer an optional platform that will extend from the middle row back to make for one continuous (though relatively high) load floor.

Dual power-sliding side doors join the front doors and the power tailgate to give entry to the Buzz. Minimalist design reduces the instrument panel down to two high-res screens. It echoes the cockpit of the ID.4 in almost every way, including the screen graphics. One big change: the drive-mode selector has been moved to a more conventional and convenient location as a column stalk. On the ID.4, it’s a twistable, misshapen wart on the side of the driver’s instrument binnacle, a feature that no doubt looked futuristic in the design studio but apparently hasn’t been a hit with drivers.

A center cabinet between the front seats features slide-out drawers and can be removed for walk-through access to the rear. Look closely; among the various Easter eggs the designer planted on the Buzz is a map of the world molded into one of the drawer sides. A glass roof and two-tone paint, such as this combo of “Lime Yellow” over “Candy White,” will be among the Buzz’s options.

It’s taken decades to replace the Microbus, but it is finally happening. Can’t wait till 2024? Well, there’s always EV West in California, which will convert your old Microbus to electric for something like $30,000. What would Ken Kesey do? Sit down, light a joint, turn on the Dead, and wait it out, man.

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Like heroic failures? You’ll love this mid-engined AC

Intake: An AC, the likes of which few have ever seen, is to be auctioned at Bonhams’ Goodwood sale in April. Only around 100 AC 3000MEs were built at the end of the 1970s and early 1980s, based on an original idea from an ex-Ford GT40 engineer. Peter Bohanna, and his race mechanic partner Robin Stables, actually began working on the car a decade earlier, fitting a fiberglass body over a tubular steel chassis and installing a 1.5-liter engine from an Austin Maxi amidships. Their prototype was displayed at the 1973 Olympia Racing Car Show, where it caught the eye of AC Cars’ Keith Judd.

Once under AC’s supervision, the car was developed further, with changes to the chassis design and, most importantly, to the power unit. Out came the weedy Maxi motor and in went a three-liter Ford Essex V-6. AC built less than 80 examples from 1979 to 1984, then sold the rights to a Scottish firm who assembled another 30 cars before it closed in 1985. The car for sale at Bonham’s is a 1980 model which was turbocharged to more than 200 hp. Currently with only its second owner it has 47,935 miles on the clock and is estimated to bring between $16,000 and $20,000.

Exhaust: Pitched against the even more wedgy Giugiaro-designed Lotus Esprit, the 3000ME didn’t really stand a chance, but if you’re a fan of heroic failure, then at least the price isn’t preposterous.

New Kansas bill could save your vintage car from legal limbo

Intake: A new bill (HB 2594) has recently passed the Kansas senate that allows vintage car owners to sweat less when it comes time to interact with the DMV. After a 1959 Corvette spent five years stuck in police impound following evidence the VIN plate was removed during the car’s restoration, Kansas lawmakers are acknowledging that an exception needs to be made. This bill recognizes that ownership of a VIN-less vintage car should not be brought into question without additional cause for concern.

Exhaust: We aren’t going to go all “ship of Theseus” here, and we understand why the law needs to be cut and clear regarding who owns what. This change is a positive one for the restoration community and allows owners to enjoy and properly register their cars without fear of legal repercussions.

Never mind off-road, one lucky Land Rover owner will get to go off-world

Intake: Land Rover has a well-earned reputation for making some of the world’s best off-roaders, but now the British 4×4 firm is offering owners the chance to go off-world. The Land Rover & Virgin Galactic Adventure of a Lifetime Sweepstakes is open to all U.S. Land Rover owners with the prize being a seat on Richard Branson’s space plane. The 90-minute flight starts with the Virgin Galactic spacecraft attached to its jet-powered mothership taking it to a height of 50,000 feet. It’s then released and its rocket motors fire for 60 seconds, accelerating it to 2600 mph. At 50 miles high the engine shuts down and passengers experience four minutes of weightlessness before descending back to Virgin’s New Mexico space port. Quite the ride. American Land Rover owners can enter the sweepstakes at LandRoverAdventureofaLifetime.com

Exhaust: A full-price ticket on Virgin’s space plane costs $450,000, so this is an impressive prize, one that’s in keeping with Land Rover’s adventurous DNA and upscale ambitions. 

Aston Martin taps U.K.-based firm for hi-po batteries

Intake: Aston Martin’s first EV is due in 2025 as a replacement for one of its front-engine models—likely the DB11, shown above in AMR configuration. Now we know which company will manufacture its batteries: Britishvolt. Based in the Midlands, the firm has ambitions to build its first gigaplant in Northumberland. The company, which was founded in December of 2019, has received £1.9B in private funding as of January 21, 2022, enabled by government support through the Automotive Transportation Fund. Britishvolt also has a Memorandum of Understanding with Geely-owned Lotus as of January 28, 2022. 

Exhaust: The U.K.’s Brexit deal, which was solidified last month and will go into effect in 2027, punishes British automotive manufacturers for importing batteries from outside the country. To make the situation comparatively worse, the EU announced this January that it would set aside $3.5B for battery tech within its boundaries. So despite Britishvolt’s infancy, it’s a logical supplier choice for Aston Martin, whose hands are a bit tied here.

VW’s flagship EV, due in 2026, gets its own $2B factory in Wolfsburg

Intake: Volkswagen’s supervisory board has approved construction of a new $2B facility in Wolfsburg, Germany, which will build its new “lodestar” EV, called the Trinity. Work on the net-carbon-neutral facility is slated to begin next year and is a key part of VW’s recent spending shift, which now sees over half of the company’s total spending go towards electrification. The Trinity EV will debut the VW Group’s new Scalable Systems Platform (SSP), which the firm says is technically ready for level 4 autonomous driving (fully autonomous, but able to hand control over to a human upon request). The Trinity is also targeting over 700 kilometers (434 miles) of range and high-volume production. The SSP platform will also underpin the first (2025) offering from Audi’s Artemis, a startup-like group that is more operationally nimble than the ICE-focused bulk of the four-ring company. (Think Ford’s newly announced Model e group, but without the separate P&L statement.)

Exhaust: The Wolfsburg facility is VW’s home, so opting to develop what appears to be such a pivotal EV from home base is a smart move (economical, too, for EV-hungry Europe). Trinity will be developed at its own separate facility, but most of VW’s European lineup hails from the main production facility nearby: Most variants of the Golf and the Tiguan—two of VW’s most prolific nameplates—are made in at the plant. VW’s not off to the best start with EVs here in the states. The ID.4 hasn’t taken the market by storm, and while VW’s forthcoming ID. Buzz has promise of a neat retro play, this Trinity EV—should it make it stateside, which is likely—may help shift that narrative.

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Volkswagen was dreaming of supercars long before it bought the ailing Bugatti firm in 1998. Starting with the Beetle, the German marque had built its reputation on “people’s cars.” Even its spiciest models, like the Corrado and the Golf GTI, boasted four seats, cargo space, and, in the latter case, a reasonable price. Four years into his tenure as bossman of the VW Group, Ferdinand Piëch was hungry for something a bit less. . . sensible.

The W12 Concept Coupe was the W-engined oddity that Piëch hoped would catapult VW into supercar territory. It was the first realization of a cylinder configuration that he scribbled on the back of an envelope while aboard the Shinkansen express train that ran between Tokyo and Nagoya, Japan. Thanks to input from VW’s head of powertrain development, Piëch imagined using the Corrado’s narrow-angle VR6, a sort-of-straight six that used offset cylinders, as a building block. Or, perhaps, like bacon strips on a sandwich—if one is good, two is better. The original Veyron concept, which debuted in Tokyo a year after the W12 Concept Coupe with a W-18 engine, used three … but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

The W12 Concept Coupe debuted with a 414-hp W-12 comprised of two VR6s spinning a single crankshaft. VR6 nerds can guess the displacement: 5.6 liters. A six-speed sequential gearbox sent power to all four wheels via VW’s viscous-coupling Syncro system.

Compared to a Spyker or a Pagani, the design comes off as tame. The designers and engineers went to great pains fitting an appropriate suit to Piëch’s moonshot W12. The windshield is a single pane of glass that begins at the cowl and sweeps toward the tail, offering a peek at the engine on its rearward arc. The doors opened in appropriately dramatic scissor fashion.

VW cooked up a roadster the next year, with a frameless windscreen and twelve exposed intake runners sunbathing behind the twin roll hoops.

Then . . . silence from the W12 concept family. Most likely, following the acquisition of Bugatti in 1998, Piëch decided that dusting off the Bugatti badge made more sense than trying to reinvent VW’s image as a performance brand. Plus, VW was already developing an exotic powerplant. In 2000, he effectively signed the death warrant for the W12 Concept Coupe, proclaiming that Bugatti would launch a 1000-hp car that could hit 60 mph in less than 3 seconds and rocket beyond 250 mph.

Though they were condemned to never see production, W12 Concepts still had work to do as development mules for Piëch’s family of W engines, which by 1998 had expanded to include a triple-VR6 W-18. The bossman was dedicated to the configuration, ushering not one, but four Bugatti concepts to auto show floors with eighteen-cylinder engines—in thirteen months, no less. He wouldn’t give up on the W18 until nearly 2000, when the Veyron concept debuted with a W-16.

Thus was born the W12 Nardo. With its Siamese-twin W-12 enlarged to 6.0 liters, but without the Syncro system, the W12 Nardo appeared in 2001 as VW’s rear-drive contender for the 24-hour speed record at southern Italy’s eponymous Nardò test track. October of 2001 fulfilled VW’s promise: The car clocked an average speed of 183.5 mph over 4402 miles.

It wasn’t done, either. After breaking for the holidays, the W12 Nardo team was back in southern Italy. On February 23, twenty years ago this month, the W12 Nardo smashed its previous record with an average speed of 200.6 mph over 4809 miles. Piëch’s W engine had proven its salt. The Nardo’s nine world records—out of twelve total, relating to time and distance—stand to this day.

The first roadworthy Veyron arrived two years later. Though the glory would belong to Molsheim, the W12 Concept tells a story that few design studies can: It birthed a development car that made the record books. We know the VW Group’s first production supercar as a Bugatti—but it was almost a VW.

The post Before the Veyron, VW’s supercar dreams hung on this W-12-engined concept appeared first on Hagerty Media.

A few interesting if largely useless statistics for you: 15,007,034 Volkswagen Type 1 Beetles lined bumper-to-bumper would stretch almost 38,036 miles or 61,214 kilometers.

As well as being a hell of a traffic jam, the line would encircle the equator one and a half times, though that distance would still be just 16 percent of the way to the moon. There would be logistical issues with either, so let’s just assume we’re talking in hypotheticals here …

At the top speed of a 1972 Beetle 1200, 71 mph, it would take about 536 hours of continuous driving to cover that distance—ignoring time taken for fuel stops—or a hard-driven 22 days (though with the Beetle’s legendary reliability even flat out, the car would undoubtedly handle it better than the driver would).

That said, you’d need to factor in servicing too, and by the time the Beetle at the back of the line had reached the front, it’d have visited dealerships six times to keep up with its 6000-mile service intervals and be around a third the way to its seventh service.

It would do all of this, though, with greater ease than the vehicle it had overtaken on February 17, 1972, to become the most-produced car of all time: the Ford Model T.

That’s not to take anything away from the Ford. At 34 years, Beetle production had taken quite a while to catch up to the Tin Lizzie’s figure, set in a remarkable 19 years. That alone showed just how astonishingly successful the Model T had been in the first third of the 21st century.

In fairness, Beetle production had only started in earnest in 1946, so the bulk of that 15 million left Wolfsburg, Brazil, Mexico, Australia and South Africa in the span of 26 years. But when that 15,007,034th Beetle left the line in 1972, Volkswagen paid rightful reverence to the car it had surpassed, featuring the T in its celebrations and advertisements.

What few could have anticipated in 1972 was just how many more Beetles would be built. The car’s sales were already in decline by the 1970s as more modern designs out-competed it, and in 1974 Wolfsburg production switched over to the car’s nominal replacement, the water-cooled, front-wheel drive Golf.

German production ticked along until 1978, with Brazil and Mexico taking over the bulk of production from that point. But while the Beetle fizzled out of Europe into the 1980s, it just kept on puttering along in these South American markets, and by the time the final Beetle left the Puebla line in Mexico in July 2003, the final tally was in: 21,529,464.

Toyota has built more than 50 million Corollas, long ago eclipsing Volkswagen’s total. But unlike either Ford or Volkswagen, numerous completely new and different models have worn the Corolla badge since 1966. It’s unlikely the Beetle’s single-model tally will ever be beaten.

Via Hagerty UK

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Tremec transaxle patent hints at hybrid Corvette tech

Intake: The Drive found a new patent filed by Tremec regarding its eight-speed dual-clutch transaxle that involves an intriguing motor-generator. Considering the only application of that TR-9080 eight-speed is in the C8 Corvette, this may be our first hint at how the C8 hybrid (the rumored “E-Ray”) will operate. The transaxle in the patent uses a motor-generator that works as a regenerative braking system and cam charge a battery or power the car through either of the two input shafts, which each hold half of the transmissions gear sets. This means that the transaxle can use electric power only to drive the car in first, third, fifth, and seventh gear, or in second, fourth, sixth, and eighth gear, depending on which input shaft is powered. It can also power the output shaft, providing a boost in power to the gasoline engine, even during shifts.

Exhaust: Speculation regarding a hybrid Corvette suggests that the front wheels will get an electric assist. That’s not to say that there won’t be an all-wheel-drive Corvette eventually, but Tremec’s packaging is an interesting development. Of course, we’re also wondering what it would feel like to drive a C8 in all-electric mode and shift through the gears, even if only half of them. If the battery pack for the hybrid Corvette can be compact and power-dense without adding too much weight, this could shape up to be a very fun ride.

Your next car might not have a traditional wiring harness

Intake: California-based startup Cellink has plans to eliminate the wire harness from your next car and has now raised 250 million dollars in capital from several large automotive groups. The technology claims to be a quarter of the weight and a tenth the volume of traditional round wire–based system. Cellink claims to be in “hundreds of thousands of electric vehicles now,” but has yet to disclose exact details.

Exhaust: In an era where most vehicles get heavier with each year, anything that can trim mass seems like a good idea. How Cellink’s systems connect and are serviced are two very important details we haven’t gotten clarified yet, but on paper this seems like a very interesting advancement.

Lost for 70 years, jig for Britain’s first F1 car found in a boat house

Intake: Following a five-year search, BRM has found the body buck that was used for Britain’s first Formula 1 car. Unearthed in the loft of a boat house after going missing for 70 years the jig will now be used to shape the second of three new P15 V-16 BRMs. Ordered by watchmaker Richard Mille the supercharged 1.5-liter, 16-cylinder, 591 horsepower, recreated Grand Prix star will be ready in 2023.

Exhaust: Behind the reborn BRM project is Paul Owen, grandson of Sir Alfred Owen, who led Britain’s great post-war Grand Prix venture. “This car has not been seen in this form for over 70 years, and it is a privilege for the Owen family to be in a position to bring it to life once again,” he says.

Maserati Grecale SUV arrives with nothing to say

Intake: Maserati has been touring its new Grecale SUV around Italy in a light camouflage, complete with the rather unusual statement “I’m the Maserati Grecale. I can’t tell you much more” emblazoned on its flanks. However, while no useful information comes with this parade, it has given everyone the chance to have a first proper look at the smaller sibling to the Levante. The trademark Trident is very prominent in a large and slightly snarly grille, while the headlamps are angular and compact. Maserati’s famous trio of side vents sits neatly in line behind the front wheels and there’s another fishy fork on the C-pillar. In other words there are plenty of visual reminders that this is a Maserati. Power is expected to come from the same three-liter 430-hp turbo V-6 as used in the Ghibli, Quattroporte and Levante, and Maserati promises an “everyday exceptional” experience. More will be revealed on March 22.

Exhaust: With the class-leading Porsche Macan in its final iteration before being replaced, the timing could be right for Maserati to enter the market—if it can live up to the promise of that extensive and evocative badging.

Jaguar bets big on in-car driver-assist tech with NVIDIA partnership

Intake: Jaguar Land Rover is investing heavily in its planned battery-powered reinvention. Its latest deal is with California-headquartered NVIDIA—competitor to Intel and Qualcomm—for a veritable bouquet of software and computing services ranging from autonomous driving to active safety to parking systems. NVIDIA, which has its hand in the gaming and mobile computing industries as well as the automotive sector, specializes in graphics processing units (GPUs), software interfaces, and an all-in-one computer system known as a “system on a chip” (SOC). It’s the firm behind the dash-width Hyperscreen in Mercedes’ all-electric EQ products, Hyundai and Kia’s current infotainment suites, and Tesla’s Autopilot system. JLR products will boast NVIDIA-powered computer brains beginning in 2025. Comparing that timeline with JLR’s previously announced EV schedule, it appears the first electric Land Rover, due in 2024, will do without the NVIDIA goodies. The partnership aligns with Jaguar’s 2025 resolution to be all-electric, however.

Exhaust: As Tesla’s continued issues with its semi-autonomous Autopilot system prove, a partnership with tech heavyweight NVIDIA doesn’t guarantee a trouble-free transition to computer-assisted driving. More than anything else, JLR’s partnership points to its determination to play with the big boys.

Kit out your Mk8 GTI or Golf R with Oettinger aero, progressive blinkers

Intake: VW just made it easier to kit out your Mk8 Golf GTI or Golf R. Through a collaboration with Oettinger Sports Systems GmbH, a factory-approved source of bodykits for several GTI generations, front and rear lip valances as well as a roof edge spoiler will be offered. All three pieces can be painted and installed at your local VW dealership or through an independent body shop. There’s also a pair of progressive LED turn signals for the side mirrors, made by Osram. They’re dark when not in use but upon activating the right or left blinker, a fluid light moves from the inside to the outer edge, with no additional coding required. (Swipe through the gallery below to get an idea.) Wheel-wise, new dynamic center caps with model-specific logos should be available early this year. They stay level and upright as the wheels are rolling, something right out of the Rolls-Royce playbook.

Exhaust: “The GTI is our most storied enthusiast vehicle,” said Hein Schafer, senior vice president of product marketing and strategy for VW of America. “Its owners have a history of dialing the car in to match their personality and lifestyle, and we are proud to offer a catalog of dynamic options to help them do so.” Kudos to VW for staying faithful to these hot hatches, and keeping an ear tuned to the accessory-happy customers that buy them. 

The post Hybrid Corvette tech leaked, Britain’s first F1 car will live again, Oettinger goodies for Mk8 GTI, Golf R appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Crazy, LS-swapped Geo Metro project could be yours

Intake: The General Motors LS-series of V-8 engines has inspired a new generation of motor-swapping hot-rodders, and the front-wheel drive–specific LS4 has given new meaning to an obscure and unloved platform in need of a serious injection of power. This Geo Metro is now mid-engined, with a LS4 engine, 4T80E transaxle with manual controls, reinforced body, and rear fender flares to accommodate the massive upgrade. All is not perfect yet, however, as the seller states that significant analysis is required to diagnose stability issues at highway speeds. The asking price for this nearly complete project on Facebook Marketplace? A mere $7000, which wouldn’t even cover the cost of the labor required to make this Metro a reality if you paid someone to do it!

Exhaust: Mid-engine Geo Metro conversions aren’t necessarily common, but they have their place in the off-beat parts of the automotive world, like the 24 Hours of Lemons. But having a genuine 5.3-liter LS series engine in a Geo Metro is a rarity, and that’s what makes this Facebook find truly special and maybe even worthy of lust for some.

Unstoppable Seb is the champion’s champion

Intake: Fresh from a stunning victory on the Rallye Monte Carlo, Sébastien Loeb has beaten motorsports’ finest to the take the crown at the 2022 Race of Champions. Held for the first time in snowy Sweden the final proved to be a battle of the Sebs, as the French rally ace took on German four-times F1 champ Sebastian Vettel driving Polaris buggies, RX Supercar Lites, and RX2e electric rallycross cars on a frozen circuit. Loeb had already beaten rally rivals Petter and Oliver Solberg as well as Mattias Ekstrom to reach the final, while Vettel bested Emma Kimilainen, Colton Herta, and Tom Kristensen on his way to the endgame.

Exhaust: Loeb is on fire at the moment, and the 47-year-old shows no signs of slowing down. We can’t wait to see him in action in Extreme E and anything else that the fastest Frenchman takes on in 2022.

Even Bugatti can’t resist snowy shenanigans

Intake: Even vintage Bugattis deserve fun outings sometimes, and Molsheim has proven that by taking a Type 51 to Zell am See in Austria for a spot of ice racing. First held in 1937, the GP Ice Race has returned as of 2019 and is fast becoming a favorite venue for high-end manufacturers who want to show off their vehicles’ prowess on ice. Last year, Bentley brought a kitted-out “Ice GT” to shred the snow, and Singer Vehicle Design took along its insane DLS mule. The latest high-profile additions to the Ice Racing GP come courtesy of Bugatti, who participated in the traditional “skijoring” exhibition—in which a skier is towed by a car—with both its pint-sized Baby Bugatti (which we drove on Willow Springs) and a vintage Type 51. That’s in addition to the competition held on 0.37 miles of frozen track carved from a few fields. Thanks to the event’s lengthy hiatus, this is Bugatti’s first appearance at the GP Ice Race in 62 years. 

Exhaust: Yes, it’s essentially an ultra-exclusive, automotive fashion show on ice, but, for those of us who can’t afford the vehicles (or even the plane tickets) to attend, the photo ops are pleasure enough. Just imagine the glorious racket of a supercharged, SOHC straight-eight echoing off the mountains … 

After a brief hiatus, V-8s are back on the menu at Mercedes

Intake: Following a sad disappearance from the order books due to supply-chain issues, many of the 2022 model year’s V-8-powered Mercedes-Benzes are back. A Mercedes spokeswoman confirmed to Hagerty that the MY22 Mercedes-Benz G 550, GLE 580, and GLS 580, as well as the Mercedes-AMG G 63, GLE 63, GLE 63 Coupe, GLS 63, and the Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600, can all be ordered once again. There are no further details regarding additional model availability at this time—those of you hoping for something like an AMG E 63 S wagon may still be out of luck for a while.

Exhaust: Note that the SUVs are the priority here. It’s a small but poignant reminder that even though Merc’s 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 is one of the best engines you’ll find in a sports car today, most of them end up in crossovers. Regardless, we’re just happy to see an eight-cylinder return to this side of the Atlantic.

Waiting for a Golf R? It’s your lucky day

 

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Intake: Orders open today for the hottest version of VW’s already spicy hatchback, the 2022 Golf R. VW’s given North America the sweetest treat of the Mark 8 bunch, too: We’re the only continent to get the option of a six-speed manual in our all-wheel-drive pocket rockets. VW’s released a hype reel on Instagram demonstrating the appropriate response to such news: Running away into the desert with this bright blue German bean, rock tunes blasting, to rip through those gears and turn some dusty figure eights. We approve.

Exhaust: Less grin-inducing than the dirt-filled shenanigans is the price tag: $44,640. That said, everything about the Golf R, especially the manual-equipped one, is aimed at diehard fans willing to shell out for The One Golf to Rule Them All. For more details, read our first drives of the Golf R on the street and in the snow.

Rolls-Royce sculpts a new Flying Lady to cut through the air

Intake: Exactly 111 years since the Spirit of Ecstasy became a part of Rolls-Royce, she has been redesigned for a new era of electrified efficiency. In order to make the Flying Lady more aerodynamic she has adopted a new stance—where previously she stood with her feet together tilted into the wind at the waist, she is now “a true goddess of speed, braced for the wind, one leg forward, body tucked low, her eyes focused eagerly ahead.” Her flowing robes, often mistaken for wings, are now reshaped to be more realistic and more efficient. The new Spirit of Ecstasy will appear on the all-electric Spectre and will help make it the most aerodynamic Rolls-Royce ever made, with prototypes already achieving a cD of 0.26.

Exhaust: Rolls-Royce boss Torsten Müller-Ötvös says, “The Spirit of Ecstasy is the most famous and desirable automotive mascot in the world. More than just a symbol, she is the embodiment of our brand, and a constant source of inspiration and pride for the marque and its clients. In her new form she is more streamlined and graceful than ever before – the perfect emblem for the most aerodynamic Rolls-Royce ever created, and for gracing the prow of our bold electric future.”

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Mini’s Oxford factory will now convert classic Coopers to electric power

Intake: Classic Mini owners can now have their cars converted to electric power under an official works program. The Mini Recharged project at the company’s Oxford plant switches out the original A-Series engine for an EV powertrain providing 90 kW of power, and a range of around 100 miles. The Mini Recharged is said to be able to sprint from 0 to 62 mph in nine seconds and is aimed at city drivers who wish dodge emissions and congestion charges while driving an iconic British classic. Unfortunately, for now, the program is limited to the U.K. Each car converted will be numbered individually and the conversion is reversible, with Mini keeping hold of the original powertrain just in case an owner wants to revert to ICE in the future.

Exhaust: With a number of other firms already converting Minis to battery power, it’s no surprise that the BMW-owned brand is getting in on the action. The Mini Recharged closely resembles the one-off example built for the 2018 New York Auto Show, which was extremely well-received by pundits, so this factory-backed process will likely prove popular.

Ford to auction custom, Popemobile-inspired 2021 Bronco to serve Detroit’s homeless

Intake: As if it weren’t busy enough Raptorizing the Bronco, Ford has also made time in its Bronco-building schedule to invest in the city of Detroit. This one-off 4×4, a custom-built tribute to Detroit’s Pope Francis Center, will be auctioned off this Thursday in Scottsdale, Arizona, by Barrett-Jackson. All proceeds will benefit the Center, whose mission is focused on serving the city’s homeless. 

The trucklet itself was donated to Ford by David Fischer Jr., president & CEO at The Suburban Collection Holdings, LLC. The First Edition model is awash in first-gen Bronco nostalgia, starting with a lacquered coat of Wimbledon White paint. (The shade was available on the ’66 Bronco but is not available on any modern Bronco trims.) As only appropriate, wheels are by Detroit Steel Wheels and, like the body, are Wimbledon White accented with Rapid Red. Various metallic bits receive a silver treatment. The build also dips into the Ford Performance Parts bin for extra lighting elements and into Ford’s accessory catalog for tube doors. There’s even an in-vehicle safe. 

Exhaust: Ford’s Dearborn headquarters are situated just outside of Detroit, and we applaud the OEM’s worthy investment in the metro community. This for-charity build makes even more sense considering that, back in 1980, Pope John Paul II rode in a specially modified, Wimbledon White Bronco on his trip to the United States. This build is no Popemobile, but we expect the Vatican approves nonetheless.

Is this what Acura’s reborn NSX should have looked like?

Intake: Perhaps you’ve heard of Autobacs, the Japanese retailer of automotive parts and accessories. Its racing team, ARTA, has evolved into a self-proclaimed “racing sports brand” that even builds custom carbon-fiber body panels. Enter ARTA’s new “Legavelo,” a radical design based on the modern-day NSX. The name is a portmanteau of Lega (Italian for alloy) and Veloce (speed), and the end result is a vehicle with carbon-fiber/fiberglass-reinforced carbon body panels, unique wheels and a suede-lined interior. Purchasing the Legavelo conversion is almost as complex as that fancy styling, as prospects need to fill out a “Business Negotiation Application” with ARTA, and there are only five reservations available—ARTA’s only planning to build five. Considering the exclusivity, one shouldn’t be surprised the cost is 25.3 million yen (or a little over $222,000) which doesn’t include the cost of an NSX donor car (clean, used examples retail for roughly $150,000).

Exhaust: It’s nice to see Japanese brands taking a page from Italy, tackling the world of custom, low volume coach built, vehicles for well-heeled car enthusiasts. In many ways, the NSX needs the Legavelo upgrade to truly shine. ARTA’s creation is arguably what the NSX should have looked like in the first place: a super car with styling to match its radical hybrid powertrain. Whether or not its worth the hundred of thousands of dollars needed to make this vehicle are somewhat moot considering the five examples ARTA plans to make, it’s gonna sell and appeal to fans of supercars, JDM engineering, and those who love any custom vehicle.

After nearly 50 years, Volkswagen waves goodbye to the Passat in the U.S.

Intake: The last Volkswagen Passat has rolled off the assembly line at the Chattanooga, Tennessee, factory. First sold in the U.S. in 1974 (under the Dasher name), the Passat accounted for 1.8 million units sold over its 48-year lifespan. The Chattanooga plant will now turn its focus to the Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport models as well as the ID.4 electric SUV. VW is investing $800 million in the facility to optimize it for production of EVs and their components, such as battery packs.

Exhaust: We’re not surprised to see the Passat reach the end of the line. The sedan’s biggest selling point in recent years has been the price, and while it’s a fine car, the Passat has not received the same level of investment and development that remaining U.S.-market sedans—such as the Camry and the Accord—have enjoyed from their manufacturers. The current Passat was 10 years old this year, and that’s simply too long to let a mid-tier product languish. Those insistent on a Volkswagen sedan can still choose between the everyman Jetta and the stylish VW Arteon.

Refreshed Honda CB300R looks like a recipe for small-bore fun

Intake: Honda was one of the first brands to make small motorcycles popular stateside, but things have come a long way since the “you meet the nicest people on a Honda” campaign. The CB300R ABS is the latest bike to get a refresh and now packs features well above its $5549 price tag (that number includes $400 for freight and $200 for destination). Weighing in at just 317 pounds ready to ride, the CB300R now comes fitted with a slipper clutch for smooth downshifts, along with IMU-controlled ABS and the same 41-mm forks as its larger CB siblings.

Exhaust: The sub-400cc motorcycle market was once a destitute land that many dismissed as full of “beginner bikes.” That perspective has changed thanks to manufacturers’ increased focus on building small-bore bikes that reward both novice and veteran alike. The ’22 CB300R has our attention as a machine that possesses all the features of the big CB1000R while still managing to be playful and fun. We think it would be perfect for the vast majority of riders and hope to get our hands on one soon to try it out.

All-powerful Aston Martin DBX to launch on February 1

Intake: Aston Martin is inviting you to join the live reveal of the most powerful production SUV on the planet. If the rumor-mill is to believed the DBX will be powered by the company’s V-12 engine, boosted to 700 hp, to surpass the likes of  the Porsche Cayenne Turbo, Bentley Bentayga Speed, and the Lamborghini Urus. Aston has launched a new website for fans to follow the unveiling which will go live on February 1 at 1 p.m. GMT (8 a.m. EST).

Exhaust: The teaser film is titled “Change is coming,” which supports the suggestion that the DBX’s V-8 will be swapped rather than merely enhanced, and spy shooters have previously captured the sounds of a V-12 Aston Martin crossover testing at the Nürburgring. We’ll find out for sure next week.

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According to all the experts, high rates of inflation are upon us, and that means just about everything is a lot more expensive now than it was in 2020. Milk, electricity, beans, ’83 Volkswagens, you name it. Since we focus on cars here, though, let’s stick with that last one. A clean Rabbit GTI just sold on Bring a Trailer this week for $65,100, including buyer premium. That’s an eye-popping number on its own, but it gets even more surprising when you remember that the same exact car sold last April for $39,900. That’s a $25,200 increase in barely 18 months.

Of course, it’s not just inflation we’re talking about here. Far from it. It’s a combination of a seldom-seen and super-clean VW finding the right bidders at the right time, and a well-executed flip in the middle of a market that’s going gaga for ’80s performance cars.

The car in question is a Mk I Rabbit GTI, a seminal hot hatch that only sold in America from 1983-84, with about 30,000 leaving VW’s assembly plant in Westmoreland, Pennsylvania. Many of those wrecked or rusted years ago, so a 19K-mile GTI with careful ownership from new is really something special. Finished in oh-so-eighties Cashmere White over red velour, it shows little more than minor wear and tear and a sagging headliner. There are five-year-old GTIs that don’t look as clean.

What makes this car even more of a standout is its Stage II turbo kit by Callaway. Yes that Callaway. Before it was boosting C4 Corvettes and breaking speed records, the Connecticut-based tuner was turbocharging BMWs, Porsches, even Alfa Romeos. The Volkswagen turbo kit was among Callaway’s first products.

If the Mk I GTI was a jalapeño-level hot hatch, Callaway cranked it up to somewhere around ghost pepper. The 1780-cc four came straight from VW with 90 horsepower and 105 lb-ft of torque, but the turbo more than doubled the hp to around 200. That’s a lot for a car from 1983 that weighs barely a ton, and it makes the Rabbit’s 85-mph speedometer seem extra silly. The Callaway kit also reportedly added a front sway bar and lower stress bar to cope with those extra ponies.

This car sold new in Ohio then got the Callaway treatment in period. Its handful of owners preferred to keep it a sleeper. No Callaway stickers or flashy “TURBO” decals here. Unless you open the hood or unless it gaps you in your IROC-Z, a small VDO boost gauge is the only clue that this is no ordinary ’83 GTI.

When it sold on Bring a Trailer last April, it had received some basic attention like a valve adjustment and new shocks. Then, the dealer that bought it last year and then sold it this week did the timing belt, motor mounts, spark plugs, and added new tires and exhaust.

It shows just 19,278 miles, 452 more than it did in April. Now, we all know that cars are supposed to depreciate the more miles you put on them, but this seller actually made about 50 bucks with each tick of the odometer. Although flips are never a sure thing even in our current super-heated market (a 950-mile Viper sold for a sizable loss on BaT recently), this was a home run, a record price for the model, and over three times the condition #1 (Concours, or best-in-the-world) price for an ’83 GTI in the Hagerty Price Guide. So much for these pocket rockets being about affordable fun.

For 65 grand, you could buy two brand-new Golf GTIs, or you could have bought the pricy Golf R32 that caught our eye earlier this month. And that’s just VWs. Sixty-five grand is Porsche money, and even if we keep it in the Callaway family, twin-turbocharged Callaway Corvettes with fewer miles and twice the horsepower have sold for less money. Go figure.

While these VWs are on the rise (#1 values have nearly doubled in the past five years), this result was way ahead of the curve. It also bought an extremely rare, nearly unique (not to mention very cool) car, and we’ve seen time and time again that people will throw caution to the wind when bidding on such things. Of course, this doesn’t mean any old rusty Rabbit will make you rich, but flips can sometimes work out perfectly, and for many this is now a benchmark for clean early GTIs.

The post A $65,000 Callaway … Volkswagen? appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Ford’s $3900 Eluminator e-crate motor is already sold out

Intake: Well, that was fast. After making its debut under the hood of a sweet 1976 F-100 last week at SEMA, Ford’s Eluminator e-crate motor is already sold out, according to the automaker. “Demand has exceeded expectations,” says Emma Bergg, of Ford’s Electric Vehicle Communications team. If you missed the first wave of $3900, 281-hp motors, stay tuned—Bergg also said that although the units are now out of stock, interested customers should sign up to be notified when orders open once again.

Exhaust: For some, the idea of an electric crate motor is about as exhilarating as the dash to the grocery store for more milk. But to a large portion of the car community, the prospect of e-crate motors simply means that their favorite silhouettes and classics have the chance for a longer life. While we don’t know how many Eluminators were in stock when the project was announced, selling out in less than a week is a noteworthy achievement that shows the industry’s appetite for well-executed, accessible e-crate motors.

Maserati’s next-gen Gran Turismo is almost here, combustion engine and all

Intake: Maserati is once again making progress on its September, 2o2o promise to launch 13 new vehicles over the next four years. The trident brand is taking a measured approach to electrification, allowing combustion- and electric-powered models to co-exist in its upcoming lineup. Whether supercar, SUV, or GT, internal-combustion variants will arrive first, with each model’s electric counterpart debuting the following year. The slinky grand tourer spied in the video above is the gas-swilling first round of the next-gen Gran Turismo. (The electric version is purportedly scheduled for 2022, with triple motors anchoring a 800V platform capable of 300kW rapid charging.) While overall silhouette and athletic curves are familiar from previous Gran Turismos, several styling changes are apparent. The headlight shape is evolving to a more vertical orientation, and the taillights, while still framing a chrome bar on the decklid, appear to have slimmed considerably—though some details remain hidden beneath the Maserati-branded camo.

Exhaust: The change in headlight shape from horizontal to vertical is the opposite route that Jaguar took when facelifting the handsome F-Type coupe. It also matches the design language from the svelte, mid-engine MC20, whose EV version is also due in 2022. So far these changes look promising—especially the quad exhaust tips, which you can expect to sing a six-cylinder, Maserati-written aria. 

Mercedes makes in-car payment a reality

Intake: Digital wallets aren’t exactly radical—unless said wallet lives inside your vehicle. And that’s what Mercedes-Benz and Visa created with a new partnership that allows in-car payment for, well, presumably any product or service you can conjure up on a Mercedes-Benz “MBUX” dashboard screen. The system operates via fingerprint confirmation and is currently being tested in the U.K. and Germany, with customer availability scheduled for spring of 2022. Its availability in other markets is TBD.

Exhaust: It’s a little ironic that the M-B/Visa mashup happened a full 25 years after the F 200 Imagination concept foretold a future with in-car hotel reservations and virtual banking capabilities. While technology creep is sometimes concerning, this should come as no surprise, since smartphones have made this technology available to the masses since Apple’s App Store opened up in 2008.

Your most realistic peek yet at the Microbus’ electric reboot

Intake: After several teases, hints, and spy shots, the production version of the all-electric VW minivan, dubbed the ID.Buzz, was shown in the most detail yet during a launch video for the ID.5 sedan. The funky graphics cover some design details, but there’s plenty to ogle, like the texture of the front grille, the sliding door, and the two-tone wheels.

Exhaust: If the currently available ID.4 SUV is any indication, VW’s reborn bus should have 240 to 260 miles of range. Even though we haven’t seen inside the ID.Buzz yet, our hopes are high; Volkswagen’s interior designers have an excellent track record of practical, spacious, and human-centered cabins, and you can expect them to make excellent use of this van’s blocky proportions.

Kyle Larson crowned king of NASCAR’s Cup Series

Intake: NASCAR’s Cup Series has a new champion. Sunday, 29-year-old Kyle Larson crossed the finish line first at Phoenix International Raceway, a mere .398 seconds in front of fellow championship-hopeful Martin Truex Jr., claiming his first title and tenth win of his dominant season. 2021 marked the first season back in the Cup Series for the Elk Grove, California driver, after being released by Chip Ganassi in 2020 for using a racial slur during an iRacing event.

For the second consecutive year a first-time champ has been crowned from the Hendrick Motorsports stable. Under NASCAR’s playoff format, only four drivers were eligible to win the championship entering Phoenix–Kyle Larson, teammate and reigning champ Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr., and Denny Hamlin. In typical championship-finale fashion, the cream rose to the top, with all four drivers placed within the top five. The race rounded out NASCAR’s championship weekend in the Arizona desert after crowning Camping World Truck Series champ Ben Rhodes on Friday and Xfinity Series champ Daniel Hemric on Saturday.

Exhaust: The comeback is complete. After his release in April 2020, at times it seemed as though Larson’s career at NASCAR’s apex was over. After numerous apologies, self-removal from the public spotlight, and an extensive slate of philanthropic work, Larson had scrubbed his image enough for motorsports magnate Rick Hendrick to take a chance on the young driving phenom in October 2020. The new relationship produced a fairytale season, with Larson hoisting the championship trophy and achieving a double-digit win total (a feat that hasn’t been duplicated since Jimmie Johnson’s 2007 title season). In terms of dominance, this is likely just the beginning for the duo; Larson, who wins in everything he races—late models, sprint cars, stock cars—now has top-tier equipment and a contract with Hendrick’s team through 2023.

The race at Phoenix also marked the end of NASCAR’s sixth-gen Cup car, a platform utilized by the series since 2013. Next year, the Cup Series will utilize a drastically different “Next Gen” car, featuring single-lug wheels, an independent rear suspension, and a sequential five-speed transaxle. New car, new tracks, new drivers, and new reigning champs across all three premier divisions—see you in Daytona!

Over a third of Cadillac dealers say no to EV shift, take buyout

Intake: When Cadillac announced its ambitious plan to be an all-electric brand by 2030, it offered each of its dealers a choice: jump on the electric Caddy train (including necessary dealership modifications), or accept a buyout and give up the franchise. After the November 30, 2020, decision deadline passed, at least 150 (or 17 percent of) Cadillac dealers in North America indicated they’d prefer cold, hard cash than the all-electric gamble. It was an unexpected response to Cadillac’s grand plans. Nearly twelve months later, Automotive News reports that over 300 Caddy dealers have decided to take the cash and close up shop.

Exhaust: One-third of a network sounds mighty condemning, but the 315 or so dealers that closed shop accounted for only 10 percent of total brand sales. Are the closures a no-confidence vote, or an overdue fat-trimming? Even with the reduction, Cadillac will have roughly twice the dealerships of BMW, Mercedes, or Audi, though it can claim only a fraction of each German marque’s vehicle sales. No one has a crystal ball here, but it’s clear that change is afoot.

The post Ford’s first e-crate sells out, VW Bus’ electric reboot nears reality, NASCAR crowns new Cup king appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Oh dear. Aren’t Volkswagens supposed to be the Car of the People? Yesterday’s $61,950 final price on Bring a Trailer’s sale of a squeaky clean 2004 Volkswagen Golf R32 indicates even the historically thrifty Mk4 Golf is swept up in the ongoing value surge of noteworthy cars from the early 2000s. Even more surprising is the likelihood that we haven’t hit the ceiling on first-gen R32s, as this isn’t even a record-setting price for the breed.

That honor (or dishonor, depending on your point of view) goes to last year’s ultra-low mileage R32 that claimed $65,100 on BaT after fees. Impressive, but a few factors need to be considered for both the record setter and this new runner-up lest you think every Mk4 R32 is set to skyrocket. The key “X-Factor” there was the car’s stunning showroom-fresh condition, a byproduct of an odo that logged just 1800 miles prior to the sale.

It’s a similar story with this $61,950 car. This 20,000-mile, one-owner R32 presents beautifully, with only a few rock chips on the hood and one on the right-rear wheel in the way of visible wear and tear. Interior is flawless, with taut, unworn upholstery and trim pieces that appear immaculate and mar-free.

Really, it’s all about condition. Last summer’s record setting sale failed to set off any major chain reaction in BaT’s rotating R32 stock, with a 35,000-mile silver 2004 R32 claiming a reasonable $27,300 two months later, while a black R32 with 14,000 miles swapped garages for $49,875. Between those two, a driver-condition blue example with 123,000 big ones on the clock sold for a friendly $13,900, and a one-owner, weatherworn silver R32 with 66,000 miles claimed $15,750.

See? There’s a Grand Canyon-sized gulf between the drivers (condition #3 in Hagerty Price Guide parlance) and the perfectly preserved (usually condition #2). A relatively affordable initial purchase price and usable hatchback configuration meant the majority of the 5000 Mk4 R32s imported to the U.S. were driven long, hard, and fast until those fetching OZ Racing wheels fell right off, leading to low stock of clean, original condition cars with reasonable miles.

We might not have hit peak values for clean R32s quite yet. Consider how close this ultra-clean 20,000-mile example was to the 1800-mile market leader; imagine what a sub-5000-mile R32 in similar condition can do with another year of market development under its timing belt.

The gap in values between the best R32s and the rest has gotten so wide that we can’t help but wonder if it is now an exception to the rule, “Buy the nicest example you can afford.” Outside of a few model-specific interior trim pieces, the majority of the Mk4 R32 is either standard-production Golf or hardware pulled from Volkswagen Auto Group’s parts bin, including the 3.2-liter VR6 and Haldex all-wheel drive system that’s simply a detuned recast of the drivetrain already available in the contemporary Audi TT 3.2. You probably won’t get a meaningful return on your investment—especially since online bidders are so fixated on that odometer number—but if the goal is to park a clean R32 in your driveway, it’s a potential way to avoid originality tax.

Of course, there’s no accounting for nostalgia, and much of big bids on the upper end of the R32 market are driven either by speculation or a blend of moneyed millennials and Gen-Xers who never got a crack at their dream car when it was still on dealership floors. Indeed, millennials comprise 43 percent and Gen-Xers 46-percent of Hagerty’s insurance quotes on R32s as of last year.

We’ll see you back here after an R32 inevitably breaks the $70,000 barrier.

The post Another day, another $60K+ VW Golf R32 appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Few cars have had experienced the character-development arc of the humble Volkswagen Beetle. It went from Nazi propaganda icon to symbol of the hippie movement to advertising darling to drag racer, from Baja desert fighter to children’s Disney hero to hecho en Pueblo Mexican taxicab. Across 81 years and 23 million cars sold, the Beetle was a blank canvas, ready to soak up anyone’s ideas. Here’s what California and Germany did with it.

First, we should clarify that the “California Look” Beetle and the “German Look” Beetle are more about curating a flavor than adhering to a rulebook. In the same way that a 1932 Ford can be turned into a hot rod with any number of tweaks, each of these two Beetle categories is open to a wide range of personal interpretation.

Take this little brown Bug, belonging to North Vancouver VW specialist Geoff Peterson. Based on a 1957 car, it has a bored-out 2.33-liter air-cooled four-cylinder that makes around 200 hp, and it’s seriously quick. With pizza-cutter front tires up front and drag slicks out back, it’ll run low-12-second passes all day.

With almost all its chrome trim removed, understated paint work, and a rear hatch reworked for better cooling, this Beetle ticks most of the boxes on the Cali Look checklist. The solid drag wheels would likely have been five-spoke BRM units in-period, with a conical competition mirror likely fitted in place of the flattish OEM unit. Also, Geoff’s Beetle is a bit sneaky—many of its body panels are actually fiberglass, to save weight.

We settle into the big, square “biscuit”-look bucket seats, and Peterson takes me for a quick rip around the block. The Cali-look Beetle hooks up in second gear with shocking ferocity. The weight in the rear anchors the still-sticky old drag slicks, the front goes light, and the little car rears back on its haunches.

“I’d take it to the Friday night drags,” Peterson says, “We were always looking to beat the 5.0-liter Mustangs.”

The California Look dates back to the mid-1960s, slightly ahead of the Beetle craze brought on by Disney’s “Herbie” movies. Centered around Orange County in Los Angeles, SoCal tuning pioneers started turning their Volkswagens into dragstrip champions. Cars were stripped of anything deemed unnecessary, with lowered, raked suspensions and minimalist bumpers. When Herbie arrived to broaden the popular appeal of a quick Beetle, people started buying tuning parts out of L.A. and the California look exploded.

At the first Bug In, held October 20, 1968, Volkswagen owners from all over gathered to show off, swap parts, and drag race each other down the strip. Racing was at the heart of the culture, not much different from the earlier hot rodders and their deuce coupes, nor the later explosion of import tuners and their hopped-up Honda Civics. Beetles were cheap, easy to work on, and you could make them faster with every sliver of weekly paycheque you put aside.

California-style Beetle tuning is an enduring phenomenon. It continues today, but has evolved from its grassroots beginnings to more collector-oriented enthusiasm. Beetle fans obsess over period-correct details and hard-to-find OEM parts. But they’re still eager to get together for swap meets and drag-racing, same as it was in the 1970s.

For the most colorful 1990s-era Beetle enthusiasm, we have to cross the pond to Germany. A one-make series based around the Super Beetle, which was called the 1303 in European markets, the Käfer Cup put Beetles racing door-to-door at various tracks (“käfer” is German for “beetle”). These were serious racing cars, fitted with cages, racing slicks, and whatever power could be eked out of the latest air-cooled VW engines produced. Beetles were sold in Europe right up until the mid-1980s.

Consider the 1303 of Rolf Holzapfel Tuning, built in 1992. It featured a five-speed Porsche 911 gearbox, Porsche-pattern BBS three-piece wheels, and a hybridized Type 4/T24 16V engine that was codeveloped by Erhard Melcher of AMG. It made a reliable 240 hp, and was immediately dominant.

Naturally, the style of the circuit carried over to the street-going Beetles belonging to those who sat in the grandstands of Käfer Cup races. This red example, belonging to Hagerty’s own Dave Hord, embodies most of the elements of a German Look car.

Dave doesn’t have an obsession as much as a Beetle infestation. He’s built dozens of VWs over the years and is currently working on restoring the Beetle he drove when he was eighteen. “I’ve started off wrong here immediately,” he says, noting that this car is a 1969 Beetle, and not the later 1303.

But the details are there. Essentially, a German Look car should be the Beetle as if it were produced by Porsche. Large, modern Porsche wheels are essential, as well as a highly tuned engine, usually based on the later Type 4 flat-four. While California look cars are often lowered, the suspension of a German Look Beetle is intended to perform in the corners. Custom-made pieces and items borrowed from the Porsche catalog are common. Porsche brakes are also must-haves.

Where Peterson’s Beetle is perfect for a quarter-mile blast, Hord needs his cars to tolerate distance—he drives roughly 40,000 miles every year. The California Look Beetle was a dopamine firehose; Hord’s German Look machine is delightful in its usability.

What’s it like to drive? Take all the performance of a modern car, perhaps a Boxster, and then drop a joyful Beetle shell over top. The engine, a 2.1-liter air-cooled four-cylinder, makes just 150 hp but the car is relatively light, and you get to play with the whole tachometer without attracting unwanted attention from die Polizei. What’s really phenomenal is the sheer level of grip, which seems at odds with the Beetle’s tallish shape. It’s like driving a weaponized highchair.

Like the California Look, subtlety is a hallmark of a proper German Look Beetle. The rally-style lights and plaid accents for its Porsche seats say more about Hord’s particular build signature, but the blacked-out trim and badging are German Look essentials.

Both cars epitomize the Beetle’s flexibility as a platform for expression. One is a stoplight dragster’s dream, steeped in golden-hued 1970s California nostalgia. The other is a highly functional and well-engineered daily driver that’s about a thousand times more fun than any modern Volkswagen. And most modern Porsches.

A Beetle can be anything. Your wrench is its paintbrush. If you had one, what would you create?

The post Drag slicks or 911 brakes? How California and Germany painted the VW Beetle’s blank canvas appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Boxster and Cayman EVs won’t lose their mid-engine character

Intake: Even though the electrified versions of Porsche’s pocket-sized sports cars will have wheel motors, they’ll still feel mid-engined: Porsche plans to mount the batteries amidships. That’s according to a report by Autocar, which says the layout is known as “e-core.” In the recently-revealed Mission R concept (above), with its 718-like dimensions and styling, the batteries are mounted behind the driver and ahead of the rear wheels instead of the now-standard skateboard arrangement, which raise the driving position. This layout would become the basis of the next-generation of Boxster and Cayman, says Autocar.

“With a typical two-door sports car, you see the car is really low because to reduce drag you want the silhouette as low and flat as possible,” Porsche technical chief Michael Steiner says. “To do that you should have the driver sitting as low as possible, and if you do that there is no space for a battery below the seat of the driver. With today’s battery cell technology, the batteries are the biggest and heaviest part of the car—and this could be true for the next decade or so—so we developed what we call the e-core battery design. Packaging-wise and centre of gravity-wise, it’s more or less a copy of a mid-engine design.”

Exhaust: This sounds promising. Although a skateboard chassis keeps battery mass low and drops the center of gravity, we all know that where that mass is positioned is key to a car’s agility. A lower driving position and rear-biased weight distribution could really improve the handling feel of an electric sports car, despite the potential weight penalty over an ICE model.

’Tis the season to go public: Rivian files S-1, Polestar and Volvo to follow suit

Intake: Last Friday, October 1, Rivian filed its S-1 with the SEC to trade publicly on the Nasdaq under ticker “RIVN.” Details in the filing held several points of interest for fans and potential investors alike as to the future of Rivian. Among the pages, the EV startup disclosed $1 billion in net losses, largely accrued from its infrastructure investments and preparations for a September launch of its R1T pickup. Because of that big push, Rivian has successfully beaten Tesla and the Big Three to market with an all-electric consumer pickup. 48,390 total combined preorders are on the books for the R1T truck and the R1S SUV in North America. On its commercial side of things, Rivian remains committed to delivering a big batch of its EDVs (electric delivery vans) to Amazon; that’s 100,000 units by 2025, with 10 such vehicles expected to ship out as early as December of this year. Much unlike Rivian’s traditional proceedings, yet another EV startup, Volvo-owned Polestar, has agreed to go public via SPAC by merging with shell company Gores Guggenheim, Inc. The deal gives Polestar a $20 billion valuation, and it will trade under the ticker “PSNY” on the Nasdaq as well. On the heels of the announcement, Volvo has also said that it plans to raise $2.9 billion in attempts to go public in Stockholm. More details are yet to come for the Swedish marque, though the Wall Street Journal estimates Volvo could get valued at $25 billion. Both Polestar and Volvo are largely owned by Geely Holding Group. Geely previously attempted to take Volvo public in 2018, though the effort failed.

Exhaust: The torrid growth of the electric market has led an astounding number of startup and established automakers to pursue public funds to get a leg-up. Conservative investors will gravitate towards Rivian, its foundational approach, and established, reputable corporate partners. However, that won’t deter a flood of speculative traders who’d rather cross their fingers and bet big on a SPAC darling, like Polestar. Both investor camps hold the promise of much-needed cash for these companies to compete and grow—and, in Volvo’s case, overhaul itself entirely—in the emerging EV industry.

Austin Riley doesn’t let autism slow him down, races to second Canada championship

Intake: Austin Riley did it again. The 22-year-old race car driver, who continues to overcome challenges on and off the track, won his second consecutive Radical Canada East Cup championship over the weekend. Riley, who has autism, headed into the final weekend of competition in second place overall, then rallied to win races on Saturday and Sunday—overcoming radiator problems in the finale—to capture the title. Riley, who is sponsored by Hagerty, is among 5.4 million people age 18 and older who have autism (according to the CDC), a developmental disorder characterized by difficulties with social interaction and communication.

Exhaust: Austin Riley never ceases to amaze. Not only does he excel on the racetrack, but he uses his success to raise autism awareness and inspire others with the same diagnosis. “We want everyone to find the dream that they have, and we want everyone to achieve it,” Austin told NBC Sports last summer. “That’s what’s important in life. To find something you love to do and to do it.”

GM announces two big steps in expansion of Ultium EV strategy

Intake: General Motors announced two major investments in EV tech as it seeks to expand the capability and availability of its Ultium EV platform. The first is a strategic partnership with Wolfspeed, a silicon-carbide device manufacturer that GM will lean on to provide semiconductors for its upcoming, Ultium-based EVs. The lightweight semiconductor material should help expand ranges of the battery-powered vehicles while lowering weight. The second announcement details GM’s plans to invest in a new battery facility on the grounds of its technical campus in Warren, Michigan. The Wallace Battery Cell Innovation Center is scheduled to produce its first prototype cells in late 2022. In addition to investigating tech such as solid-state batteries, the Warren battery plant aims to help lower the cost of future GM electric vehicles.

Exhaust: Hot on the heels of Ford’s massive Blue Oval City EV campus in west Tennessee, GM is looking to make EV headlines of its own. The Wolfspeed partnership seems aimed at reducing the headaches caused by the global semiconductor shortage, which has hampered new vehicle production, and by extension, new vehicle sales.

Bubba Wallace makes NASCAR history

Intake: Bubba Wallace is the first Black driver to win a Cup Series race since NASCAR Hall of Famer Wendell Scott in 1963. Wallace was in the lead on lap 118, of the 188 scheduled, when rain halted the race at Alabama’s Talladega Motor Speedway. Multiple showers passed through the area preventing NASCAR from drying the 2.66-mile oval, and since ’Dega does not have any lights the race could not be run past sunset. Per NASCAR rules, once the leader completes over half the scheduled distance, the race can be legally called. After a lengthy wait, it became clear the race (which was already pushed back one day for rain) would not be able to resume, and Wallace was declared the winner. Not only is this 27-year-old Wallace’s first win in the series, but it is also the first win for freshman team 23XI Racing, a race team owned by Cup star Denny Hamlin and basketball legend Michael Jordan.

Exhaust: Congrats to Wallace and his team. NASCAR fans have witnessed the amount of work the driver has invested over the years to make it to the stock car’s premier division. From his early career wins in the Camping World Truck series to grinding out stellar performances in cars for middle-of-the-pack team Petty Enterprises, his rise to the top ranks has no doubt been tumultuous and well-deserved. His win as a Black athlete in a predominantly Caucasian sport may go far in demonstrating modern-day NASCAR’s inclusivity and will hopefully spark more opportunities for diversity in future rookie classes.

Side note: if you are a devout fan, you also observed the points shakeup post-Talladega, as many Championship front-runners were involved in incidents, relegating them to poor finishes and minimal points. The upcoming race at Charlotte’s Roval should be a spectacular elimination race!

The Bugatti Bolide is officially beautiful

Intake: The Bugatti Bolide has been named the world’s most beautiful hypercar at the glitzy Festival Automobile International in Paris. In a category that included the BAC Mono 2, the Gordon Murray T.50 and Mercedes-AMG One the Bolide was judged by an expert panel of design professionals to be the winner. The Bolide is very much a form-follows-function machine, being essentially a Chiron stripped of all comforts and clothed in track-ready bodywork. “The Bolide was an entirely different challenge for our design team, and a kind of mental experiment where we stripped the car back to its W16 quad-turbocharged heart and rebuild it with the bare minimum to create the most extreme Bugatti yet,” explained Bugatti Design Director Achim Anscheidt. “The key for us was to respect the technical requirements of Bolide, focusing first on the function and only then developing the form. It’s an honour for us that the resulting design has won such a highly coveted award, voted for by experts in our field.”

Exhaust: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but at least it gives the 40 Bolide buyers who paid €4 million ($4.65m) each for their hypercars something to talk about while they wait until 2024 to take delivery.

VW preps electric ID.4 for off-road adventure race

Intake: Driver Mercedes Lilienthal and navigator Emily Winslow will campaign an ID.4 AWD Pro in the 2021 running of the Rebelle Rally from October 7 to 16. The all-women rally challenges contestants to navigate through 1400 miles of desert in California and Nevada entirely without digital aids. The SUV has been modified slightly by Tanner Foust Racing and Rhys Millen Racing, who have experience competing with the ID.4 in the NORRA Mexican 1000. While the 295-hp electric powertrain is unmodified, the SUB was beefed up with new suspension components and skid plates. The colorful wrap was designed by artist Liz Kuz. The ID.4 will compete in the crossover class while Rivian, back for the second year in a row, will bring an electric entrant to the 4×4 class.

Exhaust: The kind of rally racing done in the NORRA Mexican 1000 and the Rebelle Rally includes downtime each night, perfect for an electric vehicle that needs to charge for a few hours. Besides batteries adding considerably to the curb weight, there’s no reason to expect an electric vehicle to have any kind of disadvantage in a race like this. We’d much prefer to see an electric dune buggy, considering the Southwestern environment, but the participants will likely appreciate the comfort of doors, a top, and, most importantly, air conditioning.

The post Boxster EV to keep mid-engine feel, GM amps up Ultium production, autism can’t slow this 22-year-old appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Let’s first set out some guidelines on what we’re actually covering here: This guide covers the A2 Golf GTI and GTI 16v that were available in the United States between the 1985 and 1992 model years.

Yes, these cars were vastly more popular overseas, and yes, there are many advantages to a European or U.K.-origin GTI. And while, many U.K.- and European-spec cars have come over to North America in fair numbers since the 25-year rule expired on the oldest cars around 2016, the vast majority of cars available here in the United States are going to be the U.S.-spec cars that have been here for almost 40 years.

The A2 Golf debuted in the United States for the 1985 model year, and it was something of a letdown at the beginning. That’s mostly because it was upstaged by the more popular Jetta, which dispensed with the hatchback and went for a more conventional three-box design. Sales of the Golf went in the tank almost immediately, dropping by about eight percent versus the outgoing A1 Rabbit.

Worldwide, though, the A2 was a smash. It retained the tight lines of the original Giugiaro-designed A1, but VW design director Herbert Schäfer rounded every sharp corner. The Mk2 grew in almost every direction: Wheelbase increased by almost three inches; length by 4.3 inches; width by as much as 2.7 inches; height by 0.8 inches. Curb weight also increased by as much as 600 pounds. The dimensional changes pushed the Golf into the EPA’s Compact category, rather than the Subcompact class it occupied before.

1985

Like the outgoing A1 Rabbit, all U.S.-based GTIs were assembled at the Westmoreland, Pennsylvania plant in 1985. Outside, the GTI wasn’t all that distinct from lesser Golf trims. All U.S.-based A2 Golf GTIs got flush rectangular projector headlamps, instead of the sealed beam units in other trims. Black bumpers and fender flares were part of the GTI trim, as well as red accents in the bumper trim. The wheels were 14 x 6-inch alloys wrapped in 185/60HR14 Goodyear Eagle GTs. It was all designed to be subtle, not drastically different from a run-of-the-mill Golf.

Similarly, the interior was European and businesslike, for the most part. The dash was a direct lift from any other Golf. The seats, though? World class, especially from an American standpoint. The A2 Golf GTI featured heavily bolstered, reclining bucket seats with a ton of lateral support, upholstered in red and gray strobe-stripe material. Drivers also got a leather-wrapped wheel with four horn buttons, and a leather-wrapped gearshift knob.

The issue at the outset was that engine power didn’t increase much, even in the “hot hatch” GTI. U.S.-based Golf GTIs introduced in 1985 were equipped with the same 8-valve 1.8-liter inline four as the outgoing A1 Rabbit GTI, albeit with a 10 percent horsepower increase to 100 hp and 105 lb-ft of torque, thanks to bigger intake valves, higher compression pistons and Bosch KE-Jetronic fuel injection. But that power increase was sopped up by the heavier curb weight. The only transmission option in 1985 was a five-speed manual.

“The compression ratio was been increased from 8.5:1 to 10.0:1, which is the highest compression I’ve seen in a long, long time,” wrote Leonard Kucinski in April of 1985, in his review of the Golf GTI for Allentown, Pennsylvania’s broadsheet, The Morning Call. “VW said the use of such a high compression ratio was made possible through a newly developed digital electronic ignition system incorporating a knock sensor control unit.” The electronics allowed the GTI to run on unleaded regular without knock issues. What a time to be alive!

The key to fun in these cars wasn’t neck-snapping power, though, but precise handling. Steering was a manual rack-and-pinion setup, with power assist as an option. With MacPherson struts up front and a 15-mm stabilizer bar, a torsion beam axle with integral trailing arms, and a 20-mm stabilizer bar at the rear, the front-drive Golf GTI offered benchmark handling in 1985. “If you know what you’re doing, it will do what you know,” wrote Kucinski. The four-wheel, power-assisted disc brakes were also significant kit in what amounted to an economy car in 1985.

Optional equipment was exceedingly limited in 1985. Buyers could opt for A/C, a sunroof, power steering, cruise control, one of two stereos (with or without a cassette), and floor mats. The 1985 GTI was offered in just three colors: Black, Mars Red and Diamond Silver Metallic, which would run you an extra few bucks over the solid colors.

1986

For 1986, the only major change was the addition of a federally mandated center high-mounted stop light.

1987

In 1986, Volkswagen introduced a new Scirocco with a 16-valve version of the 1.8-liter four-cylinder. For the 1987 model year, Volkswagen slipped that engine into the GTI and named it the Golf GTI 16v. The 8V-powered GTI disappeared for the 1987 model year.

Power increased to a healthy 123 hp, according to the 16v brochure. It’s still not exactly “fast,” by today’s standards given its 8.5-second zero to 60 time, not to mention its leisurely jog to the quarter mile in 18 seconds at 88 mph, but it’s appropriate to the car and the time. William Jeanes at Car and Driver noted that the 16v in the Jetta “hauls you along quickly enough, it lets you know that it’s hard at work by keeping the decibel level high. The engine sounds seem to be anything but out of place in a sporty small sedan, but we’ll admit to feeling relief when we reached fifth gear and settled in at free­way speeds—at which point the engine settles into a quiet, comforting hum.”

Beyond the engine, the changes in the 16v were slight. The wheels are still 14 x 6-inch, but they’re the more familiar “teardrop” style. Those wheels were also shod with 205/55VR14 Pirelli P600s. The driver’s seat provided a height adjustment along with the recline feature. Options on the 16v included similar items to the 8V GTI, but added a heavy duty cooling package, a power package (including power windows, locks and mirrors), and standalone power locks.

The color palette broadened to Tornado Red, Diamond Silver Metallic, Dark Blue Mica, and Red Pearl Mica, the last three incurring a charge for metallic paint.

1988

Perhaps the biggest news for 1988 had nothing to do with the car, but more to do with where it was built. On July 14, 1988, Volkswagen of America officially closed Volkswagen Westmoreland Assembly. From here through 1992, all Volkswagen Golf GTIs sold in the United States came from the Puebla assembly plant in Mexico.

Optional equipment in 1988 shifted to include a number of option packages (P02, P03, P04, P15 and P39). P15 offered the most equipment, including radio prep, A/C, sunroof, the power package and cruise control. Additional equipment included a 6-speaker AM/FM radio/cassette, a power amplifier, a cassette storage box, theft protection, floor mats and California emissions.

Colors changed slightly, dropping the Diamond Silver Metallic and Dark Blue Mica, and adding Black and Alpine White.

1989

The major revision for the 1989 model year was a lone color change: Diamond Silver Metallic gave way to Silver Gray.

1990

This year marked the return of the 8V GTI, after a three year hiatus. Comments from Jeanes upon driving the 16v-powered Jetta GLI in the July 1989 issue of Car and Driver hinted at why the lower-powered GTI made a comeback: “The Jetta GLI 16v now costs—equipped with anti-lock brakes, air conditioning, cruise control, and a few other add-ons—a thumping $18,800.”

The base price of a Golf GTI 16v was cheaper, but $13,650 in the George H.W. Bush era was two grand more than you’d pay for a Mustang LX 5.0. The 8V GTI sought to address that, but it was severely de-contented compared to a GTI 16v. The 8v was basically a four-door Golf GL with a few visual GTI cues. You did get a five-horsepower increase over the two-door GL thanks to Digifant fuel injection, but gone were the four-wheel disc brakes in favor of the Golf GL’s rear drums, and these GTIs were equipped with the wide ratio five-speed gearbox from the GL.

1990 was also the first year you could purchase a GTI Wolfsburg Edition. For the first time, American buyers were able to equip an A2 GTI with round headlamps instead of the composite projector lamps from every other year. A GTI Wolfsburg Edition buyer also got a short, black, roof-mounted antenna, which kicked off a tradition that still exists today.

Both GTI and GTI 16v were offered in just three colors: Tornado Red, Alpine White, and Black.

1991

In 1991, the GTI and GTI 16v both underwent visual changes from the year before. Carried over from the Wolfsburg Edition, GTI and GTI 16v were both equipped with the European quad round headlamps, with a red detail line around the grille.

The GTI 16v’s engine displacement increased to 2.0 liters, and with it came a power increase to 134 hp and 133 lb-ft of torque at 4400 rpm. 15-inch BBS wheels came as part of the 16v trim. The Recaro seats lost their vinyl bolsters and went full cloth.

Adding to the three colors from 1990, 1991 brought the green Montana Clearcoat Metallic.

1992

1992 marked the final year in the United States for the A2 GTI and GTI 16v. It carried on a year longer than it did in the rest of the world. The biggest change was the addition of Light Sahara Clearcoat Metallic, Dark Teal Clearcoat Metallic, and Calypso Clearcoat Metallic, all of which were exclusive to the GTI only. The GTI 16v featured the same colors as the 1991 model year.

Before you buy

These are unibody cars that are now 36 years of age. When they were new they were daily drivers, and in the parts of the country where it snowed, many of them succumbed to the ravages of oxidation. But that’s general advice for any car that’s pushing 40 years old.

The problem for A2 Golf GTI owners is that these cars were plagued with water leaks, which could rot out a floorpan in a couple of years. Water sloshed in unimpeded from a number of different places: door membranes and seals, hatchback seals, turn indicator seals, and clogged drains for the sunroof and cowl.  The windshield corners can also leak. This comes up after the windshield has been replaced. The Mk2 Golf Channel has a good primer on the top 13 reasons why your A2 Golf is full of water. Rust is also common around the holes where the wipers come up from under the cowl.

Beyond water leaks, the heater core is also known to leak, and it’s a job A2 Golf enthusiasts talk about with the thousand yard stare of a mosh pit spectator at Woodstock ‘99.

Replacement body panels exist. Front fenders, radiator supports, inner and outer rockers, rear fender patch panels and tail panels are available, but they’re not cheap (outer sills are in the $239 range, for example). You need to carefully evaluate the value of the car versus the cost of setting any rust repair right. Our valuation section below may indicate that bodywork can outpace the value of a perfect, low-mileage car.

Engines are generally stout provided they’ve had the timing belt replaced on schedule. The 8v engines are non-interference, but the 16v are interference engines. The 16v engines had very mild cam profiles, and take well to any of the thriving aftermarket’s hotter cams and ECU tunes. The five-speed gearbox is pretty solid, but if it hasn’t been rebuilt yet it will almost certainly have a bad second gear synchro. Some forum members also report that failing motor mounts and a misadjusted linkage can cause grinding gears.

Electrical problems seem to be limited to either failing older components (window motors, blower motors, gauges, relays, etc.), or the result of hackery in the form of bad audio and lighting installs.

Seat upholstery is generally tough, and while the dashes can be prone to cracking, it’s no worse than any other car from this era. Carpets wear, but are replaceable. The bigger trouble is replacing missing parts, as interior parts are difficult to source.

1985—92 Volkswagen GTI valuation

The Hagerty Valuation Team notes that prices have been creeping up for this model, especially over the last couple of years. A GTI in median #2 condition will have experienced a 62 percent increase in value over the last three years, but please check here for the latest valuation data.

That said, the GTI and GTI 16v is still a relative bargain in the 1980s European car market. Over the last three years, Bring a Trailer has only sold ONE Mk2 GTI for more than $20,000 and it was a heavily modified example with a VR6 under the hood. The cleanest, unmodified GTI 16v in the last year was a 1987 in Diamond Silver Metallic, with just 16,000 miles. This example only sold for $15,750.

Hagerty is providing a lot more insurance quotes on GTIs as they move from daily driver to collector car status. Over the last five years, Hagerty has provided 50 percent more quotes, and in the last three years, the quoted value of those cars has increased by 16 percent.

Because of their relative affordability, and the people who were interested in them when they were new, GTI and GTI 16v owners are much younger. A full 39 percent of A2 Golf quotes come from millennials, who only make up 19 percent of the market. Right behind them, Gen X quotes 33 percent of A2 Golfs, making up 32 percent of the market. Boomers—the largest representative group at 37 percent of the total market—only quote 15 percent of A2 Golfs. Gen Z makes up just six percent overall but quotes 10 percent of A2 Golfs. Preboomers have about as much real estate in the market as Gen Z, and they only quote 3 percent of the A2 Golfs that come to Hagerty.

Based on information from the Valuation Team, the year doesn’t affect value that much, and neither does the presence of a 16v motor. The later 2.0-liter 16v cars have about a five percent boost in value, but all of the cars in #1 condition hover between $15,200 and $17,100.

These GTIs are on the march, for sure. If you’ve ever been interested in owning one, now may be the perfect time. Five years from now, you shouldn’t be surprised to see excellent quality, low-mileage examples sell for $25,000.

The post Your handy 1985–92 VW Golf GTI buyer’s guide appeared first on Hagerty Media.

In North America at least, the Tiguan is the Volkswagen of the modern era. The Golf might still be an icon in Europe, but on these shores it’s not even sold in base form anymore, leaving just the GTI and Golf R. This shift, of course, has been in progress for a while. That VW’s best-selling model in America is a compact crossover should come as no surprise, seeing as Toyota’s RAV4 first eclipsed the stalwart Camry in annual sales back in 2017. In fact, 71 percent of Volkswagen’s entire 2021 year-to-date sales volume consists of SUVs. The second-generation Tiguan is leading that pack ahead of the Taos and Atlas, so it’s a golden goose indeed.

To keep said goose fresh, clean, and competitive, VW tweaked the Tiguan trim structure for its mid-cycle refresh to coincide with some new tech and a fresh front end for 2022. In doing so, Volkswagen culled the SEL trim from the outgoing lineup, leaving the following four offerings: S, SE, SE R-Line Black, and the SEL R-Line (our tester). 2022’s SEL R-Line costs $37,790 including destination ($1195) and comes with a host of standard features: a 10-inch Digital Cockpit Pro infotainment system, crisp-sounding Fender Premium Audio, and newly redesigned 20-inch alloy wheels. For good measure, we made it a point to also jump into a Spartan sub-$30K SE model ($29,495) in order to sample the the optional third row; the primo SEL R-Line (AWD only) won’t be available with an optional third row this year, so only the lower trimmed FWD-possible models get the option.

Underpinning the Tiguan is the same MQB architecture that makes up the Golf, Taos, Jetta, and Atlas. The crossover’s styling remains simple and clean, but the subtle changes for 2022 remind us much more of the larger Atlas Cross Sport than the tiny Taos (That’s a good thing.) Now-standard LED headlights and taillights, combined with an optional illuminated grille, give the Tiguan SEL R-Line an attractive, restrained appeal—at least in the generally ubiquitous realm of compact crossovers. Two new exterior colors enter the fold: a cooler-toned Oryx White and a regal Kings Red. The pronounced character line running from taillight to the front quarter survives as a strong styling trait that the Tiguan and Taos share.

Up against competitors like the Honda CR-V and Mazda CX-5, the Tiguan’s big advantage is its wheelbase: 109.9 inches compared to 104.7 and 106.2 inches, respectively. The interior is roomy and loads of legroom make the second row particularly welcoming upon entry, but things aren’t so cozy in the optional third row. This way-back is fit for two small rugrats in timeout and not much else, with its mere 27.9 inches of legroom. Worse still, the optional third row slashes an additional two inches of legroom out of the second row (from 38.7 to 36.6 inches) and reduces cargo volume (from 73.4 to 65.3 inches). It’s far from ideal, and 40 percent of Tiguan buyers currently opt for the top-trim two-row-only SEL R-Line and its refinements. Ventilated leather seats make a case for the SEL R-Line as well, swaddling and support the driver in a way that the SE’s stiff leatherette simply doesn’t. That said, all trims now come with standard heated front seats, which is a major boon for buyers of the base S model.

The powertrain is something of an old, trustworthy dog lacking new tricks. The turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four produces 184 hp and 221 lb-ft of torque—nothing thrilling, but nonetheless adequate for the mainstream customer. With a car like this, VW is chasing mpg ratings more than lap times, after all: FWD models will net 26 mpg combined, whereas AWD models hit 25 mpg and the two R-Line Tiguans earn 24 mpg. One clear concession to fuel economy is the definite and frustrating lag from the throttle pedal, which creates a bit of hesitation when accelerating from a stop. This misstep extends even to the supposedly sporty R-Line trims.

Otherwise, the Tiguan hits its marks dead-on. The steering is light but predictable, the brakes are consistent and easy to modulate at parking-lot speed, and it’s easy to see in all directions. Driving an SEL R-Line is comfortable. Relaxing. This car would do just fine traveling across Midwestern state lines without the need for rest-stop yoga breaks.

The Tiguan’s touch-sensitive interface however, is frustrating enough that we’d advise a bit of deep breathing and meditation before first use. Capacitive buttons in the SEL R-Line are a chore to use, requiring the user to double-check if the haptic responses don’t provide affirmation, or more often, if the correct button was pressed. I’m no fat-fingered technology dinosaur either, but as it stands, there’s still nothing deliberate about them. This is the type of technology that looks good when the car is on the dealer lot, in Park, but becomes a lot more annoying when you actually have to use it on a busy day when other life minutiae demands your valuable attention. Case in point: When Touch ID doesn’t register on an iPhone, you look down. When capacitive buttons don’t in a car, you take your eyes off the road. The Tiguan S and SE avoids this issue by using traditional analog buttons, at least on the steering wheel, but this alone may be a reason for many drivers to forgo higher trims. The SEL R-Line’s 10.3-inch infotainment screen, at least, retains two tangible control knobs for power, volume, and the like; a small slice of redemption for those of us irked by the setup in the new Mk8 GTI.

Audiophiles will approve of the Fender eight-speaker sound system, which includes a subwoofer located in the trunk and integrated into the spare tire. We found the balanced system outclasses the Beats Audio arrangement in the smaller Taos. (A moderate improvement in road noise insulation over the Taos SEL helps, too.)

The Tiguan remains popular for its do-it-all utility and more-attractive-than-it-costs curb appeal. Volkswagen should sell a boatload of these, especially given the competitive pricing and equipment. There’s a hell of a lot of value to go around in the lower reaches of the model, but opting up into the SEL R-Line rewards spenders with a palpable air of comfort, despite the challenging UX shortcomings. The Tiguan nails a fundamental size sweetspot; many families will never outgrow it, but it’s not so large that others won’t grow into it.

Toyota’s more powerful RAV4 and Honda’s eco-friendlier CR-V still maintain strong footholds over the market. Things get murkier still when you consider the role of the Taos in the family. At 105.9 inches long and a price of $35,440 fully loaded, it’s arguably stiffer competition for Tiguan buyers who don’t need a ton of space. Of course, if having too many SUVs is any kind of problem, it’s a good problem for VW to have.

2022 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL R-Line

Base Price/As Tested: $27,190 / $37,790

Highs: Sharp design, plenty of space, and features befitting a pricier vehicle.

Lows: Touch sensitivity controls aren’t friendly on the fly. R-Line “sportiness” is more flair than substance. Throttle could be more responsive.

Summary: The Tiguan is evidence that VW finally knows what U.S. buyers want. Subtle but conscientious changes for 2022 should keep the golden-goose crossover competitive for at least a few more years.

The post First Look Review: 2022 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL R-Line appeared first on Hagerty Media.

This VW GTI BBS Concept wheels back time

Intake: Hot on the heels of his recent Atlas Cross Sport GT concept, VW fan Jamie Orr has got his hands on a new Mk8 Golf GTI. This time Orr looked back to the Mk2 Golf of 1984 for inspiration, starting with the classic BBS alloy wheels, which give the car its moniker. The 19-inch Super RS rims feature the classic BBS waffle pattern and are shod with Delinte 235/35/19 tires. The cars sits lower than a standard Mk8 GTI on H&R adjustable coilovers, has a Borla exhaust, and boasts BBS retro red-and-black decals. The standard 241-hp motor and the interior were left untouched.

Exhaust: Well, you can’t go far wrong with a set of BBS wheels on a Golf GTI, but we’re a little disappointed that Orr didn’t go to town inside as well. If he can fit a golf-ball gear knob to an Atlas, then why not to this ’80s’ throwback GTI?

Genesis takes the all-electric plunge with the GV60

Intake: Genesis just unveiled the GV60 electric crossover, the Korean luxury brand’s take on the Electric-Global Modular Platform (E-GMP). That same platform underpins the futuristic Hyundai Ioniq 5 and the more conventional (but still cool) Kia EV6. On the GV60, we see hallmarks of modern Genesis design: the quad headlamps arranged into two horizontal lines, and a crest grille. Inside, Genesis’ simplistic design ethos found in their current offerings continues. There’s a long, slim screen extending from the center infotainment system over in front of the driver’s seat. There’s also something Genesis calls the Crystal Sphere, which is a fancy shift-by-wire system that, according to the automaker, will “intuitively inform drivers when the vehicle is ready to drive.” We’re expecting more details about performance, tech, and pricing to trickle out in the coming months. Genesis says North American deliveries are expected to being in 2022.

Exhaust: This is hardly the most attractive adaptation of Hyundai’s E-GMP platform. The coupe-like profile is certainly in vogue right now, and there are details that we dig about the GV60, but the overall package looks clunky, a word that never enters our minds when beholding Genesis’ sultry gas-powered offerings. Still, the GV60 is significant as the lead-off batter in Genesis’ electric lineup. We’re looking forward to seeing additional BEV offerings from Genesis; here’s hoping they do justice to the brand’s well-proportioned, elegant design language.

10 years ago, Skoda set a Bonneville speed record

Intake: Early on the morning of Friday, August 19, 2011, a Skoda Octavia vRS became the fastest two-liter forced induction production car ever to run on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. The Southern California Timing Association recorded an official top speed of 227.080 mph after two runs. Driven by British auto journalist Richard “Dickie” Meaden, the car was pulled from Skoda’s U.K. media fleet before being fitted with a number of upgrades to crack 200 mph. An eight-injector fuel system was installed, along with a ten-liter radiator, taller gearing, and a parachute in addition to the standard disc brakes.

“Driving the salt flats was a dream come true,” remembers Meaden. “It always felt like a privilege to be allowed to charge flat-out down the salt. Knowing how much passion and hard work went into getting the Octavia to Speed Week made that privilege all the greater. I’m incredibly proud of what we all achieved and will never forget how it felt to break a record or to be part of such an exceptional group of people.” Amazingly, the record in the G/PS category still stands.

Exhaust: We love an underdog story. You can’t get a much more unlikely Bonneville speedster than a Skoda, can you? 

After 2022, Mercedes will officially depart Formula E

Intake: After next August, a factory-backed Mercedes effort will be absent from the top class of electric, open-wheel racing. Though it didn’t officially compete as the “Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team” until the 2019–20 season, the company had its fingers in the BEV racing pie since Season 7 (2018–19) through HWA Racelab, the same firm that ran Mercedes’ vehicles in DTM as of 2000. As of last weekend, Mercedes has claimed both team and drivers championships in Season 8 of Formula E, so it’s hardly leaving with a bad taste in its mouth. The three-pointed star won’t necessarily depart along with the factory team, either; Mercedes is considering selling the team. “We have also a certain degree of responsibility towards the team and the series,” Toto Wolff, Mercedes’ head of motorsports, told motorsports.com.

Exhaust: Ironically, Mercedes is withdrawing from Formula E to focus on … more EVs. And Formula 1, even though the series is currently hybrid-only. Stuttgart has, it appears, no intention of going gentle into a Red Bull-dominated future. The move is a vote of confidence in a series that is becoming highly constrained and overdramatic; but Formula 1 gets eyeballs, and good publicity sells cars. “Mercedes-AMG will be positioned and strengthened as our performance brand through its close alignment to our record-breaking Formula One team, and F1 will be our company’s works motorsport focus for the years ahead,” says Bettina Fetzer, Mercedes’ vice president of marketing.

Bentley ready to release first customer-spec Bacalar and the Blower Continuation Series into the world

Intake: Bentley Mulliner has completed the first customer cars in both of its new series of handcrafted, bespoke 12-car projects. Bacalar Car One is Mulliner’s first new coachbuilt barchetta, finished in Atom Silver and tailored with black and green leather inside. Blower Car One is a meticulous recreation of Sir Henry “Tim” Birkin’s 1929 supercharged 4½-Litre painted, as is only appropriate, in Birkin Green. These first customer cars come after their engineering prototypes, known as the “Car Zeroes,” were adequately thrashed during mileage, performance, and climate testing.

Exhaust: With full testing and analysis out of the way, you can bet that the 12 bespoke examples in each series will be worthy of the iconic Bentley nameplate. We’re particularly enamored with the recreation of the legendary 1929 supercharged 4½-Litre—hey, we love classics—but both series promise to be collectible due to their bespoke build sheets and limited production numbers. As for these first two cars, who wouldn’t want to own #001?

Half doors soon available on Gladiator straight from Jeep

Intake: Mopar Insiders has received word from Jeep dealers that the half doors currently available on the Jeep Wrangler straight from the factory will also be made available for the Jeep Gladiator. The half doors with premium uppers will set buyers back $4990 and the half doors with base uppers will cost $4590. Both will require an additional option box to be checked for one of the three available tonneau covers.

Exhaust: Considering that they’re the same doors on Wrangler and Gladiator, were not sure why there was ever a delay in offering a dual-door group straight from the factory as they have been with Wrangler. Jeep just keeps making it easier for customers to build their ultimate off-roader without relying on outside vendors.

The post Mk8 GTI flaunts ’80s bling, Genesis’ first electric SUV, when Skoda stunned at Bonneville appeared first on Hagerty Media.

In part thanks to the craze around everything Porsche, “air-cooled” has become more badge of honor than anachronism. Looking at German cars, there’s still Volkswagen, but prices for these once-affordable vehicles have also ticked up. Thanks to the Camper van’s #vanlife mystique, the big Transporter has become downright precious. Karmann Ghias can be had below $50K, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find one in good shape under $20K. For now, at least, there’s still the trusty Beetle.

Plentiful and accessible, Beetles possess a magnetic sort of charm. Their easy pace attracts a happy-go-lucky contingent of owners from many demographics. On top of that, their distinctive shape makes them instantly recognizable even by the least automotively-inclined passersby.

People are, however, paying more for the People’s Car than they used to. We track Beetle values from 1946 to 1979 in our price guide, and over the last three years each decade of these little Germans has been caught in an upward current. With most years drawing strong interest from a young (Gen-X) audience, the Beetle has officially, ah, found its wings.

For a car that most identifies with flower children and Disney movies, the Beetle has unromantic origins. Originally drafted by Ferdinand Porsche in the ’30s to fulfill Hitler’s request for a “German People’s Car,” the Beetle had a no-nonsense brief: seat four, hit 100 km/h, climb a 30-percent gradient. Mass production began in December of 1945 in Germany, after the end of the war, under British supervision. The next year marked 10,000 units produced and the first export model arrived in the Netherlands in 1947.

The best thing to happen to the Beetle, however, arrived in 1948 in the form of Heinrich Nordhoff, a German engineer who got his start working on BMW engines and was recruited in 1948 by the British to manage VW’s Wolfsburg plant. Within a year, the Beetle boasted a convertible model, was being exported to the U.S., and had doubled its production volume. In 1953, Wolfsburg had built a half-million Beetles.

Under Nordhoff’s leadership, the Beetle adhered to a policy of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”—and the original recipe was nearly bulletproof. There are not explicit “generations” of the Beetle the way there are demonstrable evolutions in, say, Corolla production—only a slew of running changes to the same basic WWII-era design that somehow stayed alive until 2003. Talk to a Beetle aficionado, and you’ll be surprised to hear them get excited about details like semaphores (until 1960 in Europe), integrated reverse lights (1968), or the shape of the side mirrors.

It is possible, however, to squint at 33 years of Beetle evolution and sort it into three general periods: the early cars (1946–48), cars built between 1949 and 1967, and those between ’68 and ’79.

Early cars—and especially the first-year, 1946 models—are the most desirable and the fastest appreciating, with values spiking 148 percent over the past five years. The spec sheet for the “1200” model is humble: a 1192-cc boxer-four constructed from lightweight magnesium alloy and riding on soft rubber mounts (genius stuff in the ’30s). It generated a noisy 34 horsepower and drove the rear wheels via a four-speed transaxle. Despite a shocking lack of glamour or, certainly by modern standards, usability, a first-year Beetle in #2 (Excellent) condition is a six-figure car: $119,000. Even one in more realistic condition—let’s say #4, or Fair, to be generous—is worth $41,600.

These cars are disproportionally quoted by baby boomers, who account for 69 percent of quotes. Though Beetles aren’t rare by any definition, their stated purpose as economy cars helps explain the eye-watering values of pristine examples; because Beetles were cheap and reliable, people bought them and, well, used them. Well-preserved examples of the early cars are less common, and for an older audience looking for a down-to-earth piece of ’50s nostalgia, they’re worth a pretty penny.

1949 marked the first year that the Beetle came to the U.S., resplendent in chrome bumpers and high-gloss paint. Lest you think Herr Nordhoff was overzealous in courting the affections of stateside buyers, consider that the Beetle didn’t receive an engine upgrade for another 18 years. The split, or “pretzel,” rear window remained until 1953, when it was replaced with an oval sheet of glass.

Convertibles, which arrived for the 1950 model year, command a consistent and significant ($2500–$6000) premium over their hardtop equivalents, even those optioned (1950 and after) with a sunroof. Early droptops command the highest premiums among the ’49–67 grouping; though if you think that first-year convertibles take top honors in the ’49–67 range, you’d be wrong. 1951 and ’52 models, which boasted vent windows rather than mere recesses, are worth $79,200 in #2 condition; 1950 models, a mere $68,900.

For those on a budget, fret not: You can skip the first several convertible years and find a ’50s Beetle in #3 (Good) condition for under $25K; if you’re willing to settle for a fair number of bumps and scratches, you’ll be in the $15K range. As of ’54, and until the final year of Beetle production, values for a well-loved sedan dip—and stay—below $10K.

Another standout from the ’49–67 range is the 1960 convertible, a momentous model year that brought the addition of a windshield washer and turn signals: In #2 condition, a droptop 1960 Beetle is worth $59,800. By this time, the Beetle had also gained dual exhaust (the famous pea shooters) and a 65 percent larger trunk.

Such minutiae is notable in this context largely because the Beetle changed so little in essence, which means it had to add equipment to keep up with the times. And so many—then and now—loved what the Beetle was: affordable, simple, endearing. Beetle owners also love to modify their vehicles, which means that a car that started as a 1500 and later got a 1600 dual-port or a Judson supercharger won’t irk anyone.

The Beetle’s reputation as a statement of individuality and counterculture gained real momentum in the late ’60s, after the introduction of a 1967 model with a 1493-cc, 34-hp boxer four. (The 1967 model is also distinguished for being the first year of 12-volt electrics and having several one-year-only quirks, including “lobster claw” seatbelts and rear bumper-mounted reverse lights.) In 1968—the same year that the first Herbie film, The Love Bug, hit the screens—Beetle fans gathered en masse at the Orange Country International Raceway (OCIR) Irvine, California for the first BUG-IN, an event held twice a year until ’83. The Beetle officially had an enthusiast following, and the West Coast’s love for the funky German found its way onto the drag strip as well as downtown.

Our last general grouping of Beetles is comprised of the ’68 to ’79 cars. After 1968 added black as the primary dashboard color, 1970 brought another bump in engine displacement, with the “1302” models carrying a 1585-cc clatterbox in their tails. Beyond the uprated powerplant, which now made 50 hp, ’70s Beetles received a larger rear window (’71) and turn indicators integrated into the front bumper (’74). Fuel injection arrived for the 1975 model year.

With the exception of ’68–70 models, convertibles in this range still carry a premium over sedans. However, we’ve observed over the last five years that #2 condition hardtops are appreciating faster than droptops: 45 percent, rather than 25–55. This still puts ’68–79 models behind their ’49–67 brethren, whose median #2 values are up 82 percent over the past five years.

The good news for those looking for entry-level air-cooled fun is that these later Beetles are among the cheapest of the crop. The most expensive variants—the ’76–79 convertibles—range between $34K and $46K in #2 condition. Any ’68–79 model in #3 (Good) condition, whether sedan or convertible, can be had for under $15K. If you want to learn how to wrench on a vintage car, a well-loved Beetle is a prime candidate: They’re mechanically simple, parts are widely available and shockingly cheap, and the community is vast. Plus, Beetles aren’t pretentious—a tired old Beetle still trudging along is cool in its own way.

Like their midcentury counterparts, late ’60s and ’70s Beetles are most popular with Gen-Xers and with boomers, who comprise 35 and 34 percent, respectively, of quotes. (Gen-Xers are the biggest fans of ’49–67 Beetles, accounting for 41 percent of quotes. Boomers make up 32 percent.) The broad demographic of those interested in Beetles bodes well for the Bug’s future; it’s forever fixed as a cultural symbol of the ’60s, and you, your parents, and maybe even your grandparents likely have some sort of memory connected to one. Though certain years and configurations have reached the status of prized collectible, Beetles remain the people’s way to air-cooled German fun.

The post 1946–79 VW Beetle values are finding wings, but some are still cheap fun appeared first on Hagerty Media.

“I shall be telling this with a sigh, somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” — Robert Frost

There’s no way to know if “The Road Not Taken,” Robert Frost’s 1915 poem, ever crossed the lips of a group of courageous travelers looking to satisfy their wanderlust in the late 1950s. But the intrepid South Africans exemplified its message.

Today, it has never been easier to get from point A to point B, no matter how far the distance. We consider ourselves adventurous if we fly over an ocean, tour Europe by train, and “make do” only with what fits into a backpack (like our smartphone). Bonus points for sleeping in a hostel.

In 1958, brothers Carel, Marius, and Johan Marais, along with their traveling companions Joan Povall and Audrey Nives, would have probably equated the above scenario with what we’d today call “glamping.” Sixty-three years ago, the fearless travelers drove 13,500 miles from Cape Town, South Africa, to London in a standard rear-wheel-drive 1954 Volkswagen Type 2 Kombi. They brought along small jerry cans of gasoline and water but had to carefully monitor the consumption of both. Without a refrigerator, they ate canned and dry goods and whatever fruit and vegetables they could get along the way. They had none of the luxuries that we now take for granted, like daily use of restrooms and bathing facilities … no outside communication beyond the letters they mailed and received at government embassies along the route … and no roadside assistance of any kind—unless you count the kindness of strangers and their vehicles. Or farm animals.

It would be an understatement to say that the group’s four-month trip across two continents emboldened its participants and forever changed their lives. Carel Marais and Joan Povall grew so close, in fact, that they fell in love and later married. The couple’s daughter, Louise, and her two older brothers heard so much about their parents’ South Africa-to-England expedition while growing up that they too became adventurous travelers.

When Joan Marais passed away in 2018, Carel gave Louise her mother’s diary, and she was so enthralled with the detailed account of the trip that she turned it into a book. Earlier this spring, 1958: Home is a Journey was released by Austin Macauley Publishers.

“It’s an epic story,” says Louise, who now lives in Australia with her teenaged daughter and son. “When you think about just how hard it was … the things they went through to finish what they started. In the back of their minds they had to wonder, will the Kombi break? Will we run out of petrol? Will we run out of water? It was an enormous challenge. What an example they set for us, and what an amazing legacy they left.”

Louise says the family knew about Joan’s diary all along, and they encouraged her to turn it into a book. Louise finally made it happen. “When my dad passed her diary on to me, I knew a lot of those stories already, but it was still fascinating. Since it read more like a travel diary, I felt the best way to do this would be to just let her tell her story. Ninety-five percent of what’s in the book are her words.

“I went through photos for a month to choose which ones I wanted to use. I even quit my job [as a financial advisor] to do it. I figured I had one shot at it, and I wanted to do it right. It was quite a journey.”

So was the trip.

Prologue

“From a young age, my parents’ trip through Africa filtered into our family’s everyday lives,” Louise wrote in the book’s introduction. “Travel, adventure, doing extraordinary things was often our norm. My first trip overseas in 1976 was when I was 6 years old. I had flown my dad’s work airplane and helicopter before age 10, and we could all ski (water and snow) by the age of 10. My dad’s work saw us move around South Africa, and I had changed towns three times by the time I finished high school.

“As kids, we would often watch the cine [film] taken during this trip. Our parents would narrate, with my mum always ensuring factual correctness, (and) my dad only too happy to concede, sparing him the need to retrain ‘irrelevant’ detail. Their trip lived within them, was an expression of their spirit, and was engrained into our lives through the encouragement to do, to take risks, to make changes, to not be afraid of the unknown, and to be eternally bored with the ordinary.”

That was definitely the mindset of the travelers, who planned the trip for months—mostly through the mail—before setting out on their long journey. It helped that Carel Marais and a buddy actually made a similar trip in a small Renault two years before. This time around, Carel suggested that he and his brothers, all engineers, repeat the journey in a larger vehicle and remain in London to look for work. That’s how it started, anyway.

Carel had dated Joan Povall’s sister prior to his first expedition to England, but it was Joan he remained in contact with after that, although the two never dated. Joan and her friend Audrey were also planning a trip to London—by air—when Carel talked the two into joining the brothers on a more adventurous trip. Bringing along two females changed the group’s dynamic, as well as the sleeping arrangements. In a letter to Joan in September 1957, Carel promised that the ladies could sleep inside the Kombi that he had just purchased, and the brothers would camp outside.

Letters back and forth firmed up their plans: schedule, gear, clothing, cameras, passports, and individual responsibilities. Joan was impressed with Carel’s good fortune in securing the Kombi, which had only 1300 miles on the odometer. He failed to tell her that it was painted blue, which seemed more important to her than its mileage or that he had installed a roof rack to carry their belongings. Referring to the VW as die skilpad (Afrikaans for turtle), she wrote, “You silly so and so, why didn’t you tell us what color our traveling home is? Here we are dying to know something about it and all you tell us is its mileage and touring (capabilities). Gosh Carel, you really sound as if you have struck something wonderful.”

Joan also asked if she and Audrey should bring a “gas pistol,” a non-lethal weapon used for self-defense. Carel replied: “It may be good if you take the gas pistol with—you may need it to keep the Maraises in their place.”

The journey begins

Carel (then age 27), Marius (25), Joan (25), and Audrey (27) left George, South Africa, in the right-hand-drive “Flying Bedstead” on December 29, 1957, and Johan (31) soon joined the group. After dancing the night away in Vanderbijlpark on New Year’s Eve, they rested on January 1 and set out early the following day. Joan was properly celebrated on her birthday, January 3—no chores!—while Audrey, an accomplished artist, began painting slogans, flags, and illustrations on the Kombi. On one side, she painted an African hut on wheels pulling a smaller hut to symbolize their “mobile home” with a traveling toilet in tow. Above it, she added the words “Ikaya eli Hambaya,” which in Xhosa (Nguni Bantu language) translates to “the house that travels.” It can also have a more symbolic connotation of “home is a journey,” which Louise used as the title of the book.

Joan’s diary entries recapped each day’s activities, and some noted holidays or when the travelers had taken a dose of Daraprim, a preventative drug for malaria and other parasitic illnesses. Other more detailed entries revealed the travelers’ struggles with rain, mud, heat, wind, desert sand, mosquitos, border crossings, animal encounters, and flat tires, which they had to repair themselves if replacements were nowhere to be found. Getting stuck in deep mud or sand required extended digging, or pushing, or pulling—or all three—and the travelers celebrated their good fortunate whenever a Land Rover or team of horses or oxen would appear and lend them a hand. On more than one occasion, Joan praised the Kombi’s resolve, despite the fact that it was “taking a hammering.”

And that was before January 29, 1958.

Rhinos, mishaps, and close calls

On that memorable day in Kenya, after Joan marveled at the size of the baboons and elephants, the Kombi drove through Tsavo National Park and the travelers saw bucks, giraffes, zebras, and hippos. With an African boy serving as their guide, the group went looking for rhinos—and succeeded. Be careful what you wish for.

“Johan was driving,” Joan wrote, “and all of a sudden, as we came over a rise, the boy shouted, ‘Rhino!’ Well, it was too late—there was a mother and her baby right by the side of the road. “What happened next was so quick that we didn’t have much chance to register properly. She put her head down and charged. I looked up to see about two tons of rhino coming for us. We couldn’t avoid her; Johan swung the Kombi off the road, but she hit us on the non-driver’s side. What a crash; she busted the light completely and buckled the door and front so badly that we can’t open the door. Fortunately for us, she didn’t come back. We found out why minutes later—there was a lion after her calf. Our lucky day.”

On February 3, while in Nairobi, Joan and Audrey went to lunch with friends in the area and enjoyed some sherry at an inn before their meal. In a sign of the changing times, Joan wrote, “I like the idea of a woman being allowed in the bar!” Later, however, she became frustrated with her travel mates, referring to them as “the late ones” and writing that their continued late nights was preventing the group from getting an early start each day. (Louise wasn’t surprised to read her mother’s words of frustration. “Both of my parents were very hands-on doers and never idle,” she recalls.)

After another prolonged trek through mud in Ethiopia, on February 9 Joan wrote, “Up early. Our food is running short. No more bread, will have to make it up with tinned beans, rice, and potatoes.” After driving through several villages, the group stopped to camp for the night, but they slept with one eye open. “The natives sang all night,” Joan wrote, wondering whether that was good or bad. “We were a bit worried.” Their fears proved to be unfounded.

February 24 was a somber day, as Carel, Marius, and Joan said goodbye to Johan and Audrey. Johan chose to fly home to South Africa to be with his girlfriend—a good move considering she soon became his wife. Audrey’s absence, on the other hand, would be temporary. She was traveling on a British passport and wasn’t allowed into Egypt, which was still on high alert following the Suez Canal Crisis. She would eventually meet up with the group in Greece, but in the interim she would miss a lot: floating down the Nile River, visiting the Valley of the Kings, camping on the grounds of ex-King Farouk’s palace, and a harrowing desert crossing in which the remaining travelers used the stars to navigate before they stumbled upon some train tracks and followed them to the next village.

What a week!

Audrey also missed an exciting event on March 2. At the end of a seemingly uneventful day in central Egypt, Carel and Joan sat down for a long, serious discussion—and then he proposed. “I was very happy and hope it will work,” Joan wrote of their engagement, “but we have many difficulties to overcome.”

Two traumatic incidents soon drew them closer and sealed their bond. The first occurred on March 4. “The Egyptians seem to travel down the middle of the road and don’t move their animals or themselves until you are just about to run them over,” Joan wrote. “Driving through the numerous villages was an absolute nightmare … While I was driving through a place called Ishment, a fellow walked out from the side—walked right into the Kombi and I hit him. Fortunately for him and me I was only doing about 25 mph. I never even managed to break or swerve, as we he stepped out so suddenly. As soon as I stopped, a huge crowd gathered, and everyone was shouting at once. The fellow was l laying where the car had flung him, and he looked dead to me. I got such a shock that I couldn’t even get out and help him.

“Carel tried to tell the crowd to fetch the police, but trouble started and he lost two buttons off his shirt. A policeman arrived and told us to move the car to the police station. I didn’t want to, but the crowd was getting quite nasty … What a business; Carel was wonderful and really helped me a lot.”

The man was hospitalized overnight, but fortunately he didn’t suffer any serious injuries. The following day, the police let Joan, Carel, and Marius go on their way.

Just one week later, on the morning of March 11 in Port Said, Egypt, the weary travelers were awakened by three policemen. Joan wrote that two of them were “carrying guns big enough to blast us and the Kombi off the face of the earth.” After checking each of their passports, the police allowed the trio to camp for another night. But an officer returned after dark and demanded they break camp and follow him to the station. After heated words were exchanged, Carel persuaded the policeman to allow Marius and Joan to remain at the campsite if he agreed to go. For three hours, Joan nervously waited for Carel to return (while an unconcerned Marius slept). Accused of being a spy, Carel had been interrogated by a military captain who finally challenged him to an arm-wrestling match. Carel smartly lost on purpose, and the two ended up enjoying a drink together before Carel was released.

“I went nearly mad,” Joan wrote. “I was imagining all kinds of things … When Carel returned I nearly burst into tears.”

On March 13, she added, “I’m so glad and happy that I have got (Carel). Only hope we won’t have to wait too long once we get to London to get married.”

Rough seas, and the home stretch

When March 21 arrived, Joan wasn’t feeling well, but her spirits were lifted knowing they would soon board a ship for a roundabout voyage to Greece (which instead of taking a direct route included several stops, including Beirut). After the Kombi was loaded, the trio retired to their shared quarters—Joan “with two old ladies and a young girl,” Carel and Marius “with three old men.” They were awakened suddenly when the boat began to list in choppy seas and, fighting seasickness, they elected to stay topside until they arrived in Cyprus the following morning. The ship continued its long Mediterranean Sea crossing, finally reaching Greece on March 29. Audrey was waiting at the dock.

The next several days were obviously busy ones, as Joan wrote short entries in her diary while the friends enjoyed Athens. On March 30, she wrote, “Found Corinth and castle.” On March 31, she noted, “Acropolis, Visas, slept airport.” And on April 1, she wrote, “Athens, dinner at Busty’s.”

Heading north, the group seemed to enjoy everything that Europe had to offer. On April 7, they were also amused by an older boy in Yugoslavia, who while on his way to school traded Marius a bottle of wine for two cigarettes—a story that Louise finds “hysterical” for two reasons: “A parent sent their kid to school with wine and my uncle felt it quite appropriate to give a child cigarettes!”

Of course, the remaining portion of the trip to London wasn’t without its difficulties. In Yugoslavia, the Kombi needed to be towed up a hill by a team of horses, and the VW drove through snow in both Italy and France—even getting stuck in a blizzard. On April 17, the travelers reached Paris, and over the next several days they visited the Champs Elysees, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and took in a show at the Moulin Rouge.

After overcoming a problem with the gearbox, they visited Brussels and Amsterdam before boarding a ship and crossing the English Channel into the U.K. On April 28, they finally reached London. Appropriately, the four did not celebrate the end of their long journey by enjoying a hot meal—instead they ate lunch inside the Kombi.

The trip cost each participant just over £120, the equivalent of about £2867—or $3950.

Epilogue

Less than two months after their arrival in London, Carel and Joan officially announced their engagement on June 19, and the two wed on July 26, 1958. Appropriately, the Kombi was notably present.

Carel later shipped the VW back to South Africa, and in September 1959, having paid £600 for it two years earlier, he sold it in Cape Town for £450. For four long months in 1958, however, its occupants considered it priceless.

“I’m not a car person, but what a car that Volkswagen was—what it went through,” Louise says. “Manual (transmission), no power steering, two-wheel drive … There’s no way someone would try that trip nowadays with that equipment. They’d have four-wheel drive, long-range fuel tanks, long-range water tanks, constant communication. That Kombi was really something.”

The five travelers remained close for the rest of their lives. Carl and Joan moved many times during Carel’s career as head of South Africa’s largest civil engineering company. Audrey—British born and raised—married a South African and eventually became a South African citizen while building a career as an artist. Marius, a bachelor his entire life, worked on roadways in England before returning to South Africa and accepting a job in the mining industry. And Johan and his wife settled in Johannesburg, where they raised two sons.

Carel Marais was the last living member of the group, and he spoke to his daughter every day, confirming facts and dates, while she finished the book. Carel died in February 2021 at age 92, just two months before the release of 1958: Home is a Journey.

“He was very excited that the book was coming out,” Louise says. “I would have dearly loved to have placed a copy in his hands.”

Regardless, she hopes that the travelers’ story will continue to motivate others.

“They had their share of trouble along the way. It was just a matter of them putting their heads down and figuring it out, or digging out—doing whatever had to be done,” Louise says. “They met a lot of helpful people along the way who were probably wondering, ‘What in the hell were you thinking?’ But that trip was—and still is—a real testament to the power of the human spirit, the pioneering spirit.

“Hopefully, it inspires people to get out there and have an adventure. You don’t have to drive across Africa and Europe like they did, just get out there and enjoy the ride.”

The post Two continents, a 1954 VW Kombi, and a life-changing 13,500-mile adventure appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Welcome to The Manifold, our fresh daily digest of news and what’s happening in the car world.

Mercedes-AMG reveals new SL interior

Intake: Mercedes-AMG is working up to the launch of the new SL by giving us a good look at the car’s cabin. Clearly inspired by the AMG GT and GT 4-Door Coupe, there’s no denying that it looks like a delightful place to cruise down the PCH or make a desert dash to Las Vegas. The center console is dominated by a giant 11.9-inch touchscreen which can be tilted towards the driver to reduce glare from the sun when you’re driving with the roof down. The instrument panel is a 12.3-inch screen that can be customized to display whatever information you fancy, and an optional head-up display will show not only speed and navigation but also project the car’s surroundings in three dimensions. As you can see from the photos the next SL is s 2+2 again, so there’s room in the back for small kids or trophy dogs. If you’re carrying either you may well want to throw a blanket over those lovely quilted leather seats.

Exhaust: So the SL has gone fully digital, which may not please some fans. However, the return of rear seats, a quick-folding fabric roof, and the use of aluminum, magnesium and composites to add a bit of Sports Leicht again can only be good news.

Meet Marsien, the off-road 911 Turbo S that evokes the Porsche 959

Intake: Marc Philipp Gemballa has taken a Porsche 911 Turbo S and turned it into a desert storming supercar. Gemballa, whose father Uwe was a legendary Porsche tuner, named the car Marsien (French for Martian) and is apparently inspired by the dunes of the United Arab Emirates where it was developed. Gemballa brought in the boffins at RUF to uprate the engine to 750 hp, with a Stage 2 tune of 830 hp also offered. The car’s lifted suspension is by KW automotive, featuring double wishbones at the front and solid piston dampers with intelligent control. In road mode the car hunkers down to 4.7-inches above the ground, but can be raised to almost ten inches for off-roading. Pre-set driving modes for snow, gravel, mud and, of course, sand are added to Porsche’s regular road driving settings. If the standard car isn’t enough for customers’ off-road antics then Gemballa will fit Reiger rally suspension which adds even more travel and ground clearance. A carbon-fiber body is also available at extra cost. The cabin can be fully tailored to customer desires, with full leather or Alcantara trim as a starting point. Just 40 Marsiens are to built and they’ll be homologated for Europe, the Middle East and the U.S. You’ll need to find around $580,000, plus the $207,000 price of a new Porsche 911 Turbo S, to get started.

Exhaust: Lifted Safari-style 911s are on the rise, and even Porsche is believed to be getting in on the game, but nothing we’ve seen compares to this 959-echoing dune-basher. Mars, Earth, wherever—this looks like a blast.

2022 VW GTI and Golf R see price creep to match added performance and equipment

Intake: The all-new 2022 VW Gold GTI and Golf R both come with more potent 2.0-liter engines, more standard equipment, and bigger price tags. The GTI, identified by its red-trimmed grille, packs 241 horsepower and starts at $30,540 including destination for the manual S model, about $1000 more than its predecessor, but comes standard with goodies like heated cloth seats, Digital Cockpit, and wireless phone charging. The GTI SE ($35,290) adds premium sound, LED front lighting, voice control, and an optional leather interior package with a power driver’s seat. The Autobahn trim ($38,990) loads up the GTI with heated rear seats, ventilated leather front seats, summer tires on 19-inch wheels, and adaptive dampers. The 315-hp, AWD Golf R, identified by its quad exhaust tips and blue-trimmed grille and calipers, starts at $44,640 for the six-speed manual and $45,440 for the dual-clutch seven-speed.

Exhaust: Both the GTI and Golf R seem to be giving buyers more of what they already love. The Golf R is seriously pricey, although it does come in just one fully-loaded trim. Buyers looking for a hot hatch with VW levels of refinement and performance won’t have much to cross-shop.

Harley-Davidson packs Sportster S with Revolution Max 1250T engine

Intake: Harley Davidson went aggressive with the all-new 2021 Sportster S. The styling is a departure from HD tradition while also giving nods to the brand’s history. The exhaust and tail section, for example, recall XR750 vibes quite vividly. But it’s the powerplant that represents the most radical change. The Revolution Max 1250T is a V-twin first seen in the Pan America adventure bike. The compression ratio is 12:1, down from the Pan’s 13:1 which likely explains why the Sportster is down 29 horsepower from the ADV machine. Even “tuned down” the Sportster packs 121 horsepower and Harley is claiming a very handling-focused chassis.

Exhaust: The Sportster has been a staple of the Harley lineup for over 60 years, but this new direction leaves a lot of the heritage angle behind. Buyers of the Sportster seemed to be chasing the nostalgia of an air-cooled simple lump, but that will soon be history. Leaving what has previously defined Sportster put this new S model into more direct competition with bikes like the Honda Rebel 1100 and Indian Scout. While the Sporty packs more power, it might be tough to get buyers from the competition to swing their legs over a Harley.

Ram adds BackCountry Edition option package to 1500 Big Horn and Lone Star 4x4s

Intake: Ram is giving 1500 Big Horn and Lone Star 4×4 buyers the option to add off-road prowess as well as some aesthetic upgrades. The new BackCountry Edition includes hardware from the 4×4 Off-Road Group: shocks tailored to off-road driving, all-terrain tires on 18-inch wheels, skid plates, and an electronic locking rear differential. It pairs those off-road tools with the useful features of the Bed Utility Group like tie-downs and a spray-in bedliner. Black two-tone paint, black mirrors, black headlight bezels, black “BackCountry” badging, a tonneau cover, and body-colored grille surround help differentiate the BackCountry from other Rams. The package will be available on 4×4 Quad and Crew Cab models with the 5.7-liter Hemi as well as the 5.7-liter Hemi eTorque mild-hybrid. Production begins in the third quarter of 2021 with a starting MSRP of $41,780.

Exhaust: Ram buyers normally have to add a convenience package in order to equip the 4×4 Off-Road Group and Bed Utility Group. As it stands, a Ram 1500 Longhorn Quad Cab 4×4 has an MSRP of $42,485 without any additional options. By pairing some useful groupings of hardware with the popular 5.7-liter Hemi V-8, Ram has created a serious value proposition for those looking to hit the trail in style.

35 years ago, we said goodbye to Avanti designer Raymond Loewy

Intake: Raymond Loewy was a multi-faceted industrial designer of everything from streamlined locomotives and Greyhound buses to the Shell logo and USPS emblem. At age 86, he even took a stab at creating a Soviet “world car” called the Moskvich XRL. Loewy was perhaps best known, however, for the Studebaker Avanti, his 1960s jet-inspired creation with the long nose and no grille. On this date in 1986, the legendary Loewy died at the age of 92.

Exhaust: Although born in France, Raymond Loewy had a profound influence on American life, and his legacy lives on in familiar brands and products throughout the world.

The post Mercedes SL goes 2+2, Marsien is a modern-day 959, Harley Sportster breaks cover appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Volkswagen Beetles and buses are arguably the most easily recognizable vehicles on the planet, so finding one that’s truly different is a feat. Seen one, seen ’em all, right? Not so fast. Say hello to a unicorn, at least in the United States: a 1975 VW split-window Jurgens Autovilla camper bus.

Manufactured in South Africa and offered on eBay (and through ingearautomobiles.com) for $93,000, this camper bus is probably unlike anything you’ve ever seen, even if you’re familiar with Jurgens conversions … and it’s the Safari pop-out windows up front that make it so extraordinary.

“The Jurgens Autovilla is a rarity, especially with the split-screen cab, since the vast majority seem to be based on the later bay-window-era bus,” says Randy Carlson, a longtime California Volkswagen collector who has sold more than 160 vintage VWs through www.oldbug.com. “I can’t imagine more than a handful of Autovillas made it here to the U.S., let alone the split-window versions.”

The Jurgens’ seller has never seen another split-window version for sale and says it is “so rare it belongs in a museum.” This one began life as a 1961 VW Samba/Transporter, and the custom camper was added in 1975. The right-hand-drive Autovilla is powered by a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine with dual Solex carburetors, mated to a four-speed manual transmission.

According to caravansa.co.za, South Africa’s Jurgens Caravan factory launched the Autovilla in 1974. Advertised as “The mighty mini motorized home” and built on a Volkswagen Kombi/Samba chassis, the Autovilla was nicknamed “skilpad” (Afrikaans for tortoise) to describe its rounded shape and “rather slow progress up hills.”

Autovillas were also built under license in Germany and Brazil. A first-generation version can easily be distinguished from its second-gen cousins, which have a Luton extension over the cab that contains a small double bed.

In addition to its unique front pop-out windows, the 1975 Autovilla on eBay also has rear pop-out windows, front disc brakes, and features a full steering conversion “(It’s) very comfortable and fun to drive,” the seller says.

The camper bus, which carries a clean Florida title, received a quality restoration at some point, but the seller doesn’t know when the work was done. Judging from its overall condition, it couldn’t have been too long ago. The interior is detailed in orange and white with matching bed sheets and curtains. Features include a refrigerator, stove, sink, table, cupboards, storage areas, a mini bathroom with wash basin, and vintage barometer. The tan-and-white upholstery is like new.

The camper also has an awning.

Last month, a 1975 Jurgens Autovilla with a bay window was offered for sale in the U.K. (via the VW Jurgens Autovilla Facebook page) for £15,500, which is about $21,500. A similar bay-window 1974 Jurgens is currently for sale in Portland, Oregon, for $28,000.

Is the split-window Autovilla shown here worth four times as much as the more-common (but still rare) bay-window versions? Carlson says it’s possible.

“I think there’s a chance that the seller might get his number just because of the cute factor and rarity,” he says. “Photos of these rigs spread viral on the web. I think there must be someone out there with the wallet and the want for this one. Yes, the price is strong, but so is the ‘wow’ factor.”

The post With this rare split-window VW Jurgens Autovilla, you could be campground royalty appeared first on Hagerty Media.

It is late September, 1943, and the Nazis are destroying Naples. With the Allies advancing from the south and Mussolini set up in Northern Italy as a mere puppet of the Reich, much of the Italian population is being terrorized by a German occupying force. Things are especially bad in Naples, which has weathered heavy Allied bombing only to endure summary executions, heavy handed martial law, and forced labor. In the city, a young soldier named Luigi Segre is very angry. On September 27, he and his fellow Neapolitans rise up.

The Four Days of Naples isn’t widely remembered outside of WWII history-buff circles, but it should be. The courageous uprising prevented the German troops from destroying Naples, as ordered by Hitler, ahead of an Allied advance. The Nazis fled and, though Naples hardly escaped unscathed, the damage fell far short of the sweeping destruction the Nazis had planned. Allied soldiers arrived on the first of October, 1943. Luigi Segre went and found the American command. He told them he wanted to fight.

After a short period of training, Segre found himself being parachuted behind enemy lines. Dropped into the Piedmont region of Northern Italy—home to the great auto-making city of Turin—he became the liason between anti-Nazi Italian partisans and the Office of Strategic Services, the precursor to the CIA. Segre proved a courageous and effective asset. He learned English quickly. He earned the respect of his commanders. And, in the most unlikely way possible, he built the connections that would lead to him creating one of the most lovable and popular little coupes ever made: the Karmann Ghia.

Allied Command recommended Segre for his actions during WWII, which landed him with a place in university. He soon graduated with a degree in engineering. He went to work for Siata, an Italian tuning shop founded in 1926, where he worked on everything up to and including improving the performance of mopeds. That last task was more important than modern-readers might expect; during the post-war rebuilding period, the Italian moped market surged, and the competition for sales was vicious.

Segre was as brilliant and effective a salesman as he was a soldier. He took the little Cucciolo moped up and through the Swiss Alpine passes by way of proving its worth, accompanied by his friend and fellow adventurer Luigi Valenzano. Valenzano would go on to have a long career racing in everything from the Targa Floria to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and he would be Segre’s codriver when the pair won their class at the 1949 and the 1950 Mille Miglia.

By the early 1950s, Segre was working at Ghia, in Turin. Owner Felice Mario Boana had initially brought Luigi on as a part-time employee, but soon recognized the young engineer’s skills. Segre’s commissions ballooned as orders poured into Ghia, and Boana promoted him to part-owner of the company. Boana remarked that he’d often send Segre on a mission to negotiate 10 million lira for a project, only to have him return with a signed contract for three times the amount.

Then, Chrysler came calling.

On a recommendation from Fiat, Chrysler looked to Ghia to help them create a series of Dream Cars that would elevate the brand. The first of these was the K-310, designed by Virgil Exner after his fractious departure from Raymond Lowey Studios. Having a much smaller budget than GM or Ford, Chrysler executives planned to fly over the head of Ghia for a meeting about subcontracting the building of prototypes. Because Boana spoke essentially no English, he brought along Segre.

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The tall, lively Neapolitan immediately charmed the Chrysler brass, particularly Exner. Segre’s years as a OSS liason had polished his English and peppered it with Americanisms. He had great stories about the fighting alongside the Allies, and he and Exner freely exchanged ideas about streamlining and construction.

Ghia and Chrysler would embark on a long partnership, and Exner and Segre would remain friends. Both men were at the beginning of their careers and were eager to make names for themselves. However, Segre’s vision for more international partnerships differed from Boana’s desire to keep Ghia’s focus mostly local.

While attending the various motor shows of the period, Segre became familiar with Dr. Wilhelm Karmann Jr., heir to the Osnabrück-based coachbuilder that bore his family name. Though the details are lost to history, Karmann and Segre hit it off. (Perhaps it was just the tall Italian’s easy-going manner.) Whatever the case, Karmann had a proposal. His firm already had the contract for the Volkswagen Beetle Cabriolet. What about something that married the sensible economy of a Beetle floorplan with gorgeous Italian styling?

Segre said he’d think about it. In reality, the wheels were already turning. The proposal was made at a show in 1952, and Segre promptly made plans to obtain a Beetle and began working in secret, along with Boano. In the summer of 1953, he invited Karmann and Volkswagen executives to France to view a fully finished prototype.

Segre’s reasoning behind the secrecy was that he believed Volkswagen would turn down an idea supported only by sketches. In fact, VW had already turned down Karmann’s previous overtures. His plan worked: Volkswagen loved the little coupe and wanted it to go into production. The Karmann Ghia had been born.

The Type 14, as the Karmann Ghia was known in VW circles, went into production in the late summer of 1955. Power was modest: The car was fitted with the same 36-hp, air-cooled flat-four as the Beetle. However, it was a stunner, with beautifully formed, hand-welded and -filled bodywork. The front end appeared to be a single piece, and the whole body displayed swooping elegance. It was also familiar.

The Karmann Ghia bore a striking resemblance to those early Chrysler dream cars. Virgil Exner’s son once remarked that the little car was “a direct, intentional swipe off the Chrysler d’Elegance.” However, he also added, “Nobody minded it. It was wonderful.”

If the bodywork had some familiar cues, they were an homage to Exner’s earlier work. Further, there is some evidence that Ghia’s contributions to the Chrysler show cars didn’t end with the building process but also extended to conversations about the details. At any rate, Exner and Segre remained firm friends after the Karmann Ghia’s debut. The Italian sent his American designer friend the first Karmann Ghia imported into Michigan.

The first cars are the most elegant, despite being referred to as “lowlights”: They earned the term simply for the lower position of their headlights as compared to that of later models. In 1958, a convertible version joined the coupe. For the 1960 model year, the headlights were raised.

(It’s also worth briefly touching on the Type 34, which was a similar Italian-styling-on-German-engineering idea, but underpinned by the VW Type 3 sedan rather than a Beetle. These were never officially sold in the U.S. market, and are rare and collectible. They’re sometimes confused with the smaller Type 14 Karmann Ghia.)

Later Karmann Ghias would eventually get VW’s 1600-cc engine, good for a whopping 60 hp. The car was still not even remotely quick: The fastest stock 1600 versions got from 0–60mph in 21 seconds.

The leisurely performance did not stop these two-doors from flying off the lots. VW sold 362,601 Karmann Ghias before replacing the model with the Golf-based Scirocco in 1974. The car proved a hit, especially in the U.S. market, helped by VW’s clever, self-deprecating advertising.

Today, an early Karmann Ghia is a sought-after collectible, with prices to match. A later model is more affordable, though prices have been on the rise since January of 2020. They’re a fun, mechanically simple way to get into the very active air-cooled VW community. If you’re looking for a sleek, air-cooled 2+2, but can’t swing a Porsche 911, maybe a slightly hot-rodded Karmann Ghia will fit the bill.

Luigi Segre lived long enough to see his idea become a lasting success. Even so, he died tragically early, succumbing to an unknown infection after kidney stone surgery in February of 1963.

But in those 43 years, Segre left quite a legacy. He fought to liberate first his city, and then his country. He steered a small Italian design firm into lasting international success. And he was a driving force behind the creation of a little car that is still loved today by thousands of people.

The post The secret agent who created the Karmann Ghia appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Had it been built, Volkswagen’s experimental four-wheel-drive Transporter would be celebrated by enthusiasts and adventurers as the holy grail of bay-window Buses. It remained a prototype, one executives initially wanted nothing to do with, but the miles it logged dune-hopping in the Sahara had a lasting influence on Volkswagen’s lineup.

Released in 1967, the bay-window Bus worked hundreds of different jobs all over the world. It was a delivery van, a people-mover, a tour bus, a camper, a mobile workshop, and an ambulance for the West German army, among many other things; but it was not an off-roader and it never pretended to be one. And yet, Gustav Mayer, the head of Transporter development, was convinced there was space on the van’s resume for one more gig.

An avid travel enthusiast, Mayer spent a lot of time exploring Africa in his personal Transporter. He was curious to find out how much farther into the Sahara he could go with four driven wheels and a few additional inches of ground clearance. He started building his dream van in 1975. He raided the Volkswagen parts bin, recycled bits he found in the company’s prototype division, and milled his own parts when absolutely necessary. Then-company boss Toni Schmücker cited financial issues in his refusal to back the project, but Mayer pressed on with the help of Henning Duckstein, one of his colleagues in the research and development department. While he couldn’t tap into the Volkswagen corporate coffer, nothing prevented Mayer from building the van in his spare time for his own use.

Mayer didn’t hide his intention to take the Transporter into off-roader territory. When Schmücker casually asked him what he planned to do for Christmas in 1975, he matter-of-factly responded, “Drive into the Sahara in the now-completed four-wheel-drive Transporter that you have banned,” according to Volkswagen’s archives department.

Schmücker’s position was not entirely surprising. Appointed CEO in 1975 after a long career at Ford, he had bigger problems to solve than figuring out how to give the Transporter the ability to keep up with a Land Rover in the Algerian desert. Volkswagen was losing money, its American sales were falling, and its factories were underutilized. Schmücker closed a factory in Australia and slashed the workforce in Wolfsburg. He masterminded the takeover of Chrysler’s unfinished plant in New Stanton, Pennsylvania, where the Rabbit was later built. He kept niche projects and cash arsonists out of his cosmos; he also sold the 924 project to Porsche and shot down a 110-hp Passat GTI.

Mayer built his Bus and tested it. Presumably, he had a blast, because he returned to Germany with valuable insight and a firm conviction that adding four-wheel-drive to the Transporter line was a must. On the bright side, his prototype was hugely capable, and its boxy proportions gave drivers an unobstructed view of what lay directly in front of them. It was severely underpowered, however, because Mayer kept the 1.6-liter air-cooled flat-four, which was rated at 50 horsepower.

With the VW brand finally on stable financial footing, executives gave four-wheel-drive a shot in 1978. Five prototypes were built with the factory’s authorization, and Mayer’s experience played a significant role in shaping the specifications sheet. Power came from a 2.0-liter flat-four with a more usable 70-hp output. The buses were tested off-road, but VW also put them in the hands of police officers and select journalists to gain as much feedback as possible.

Fitting four-wheel-drive to the Transporter was more challenging than it might sound. Installing 16-inch wheels required modifying the front wheel arches, for example. Thick skid plates were added to protect the underbody components, and Volkswagen’s archives department indicates some prototypes used a semi-automatic transmission from the Beetle. That gearbox sent the engine’s power to the four wheels via a part-time four-wheel-drive system that needed to be engaged manually (the prototypes were rear-wheel-drive in normal driving conditions) and locking differentials.

Volkswagen’s four-wheel-drive Transporter was admirably capable off the beaten path, but it did not receive the proverbial green light for production, presumably because the prototypes were built so late in the model’s life cycle. While the bay-window Bus was water-cooled and made in Brazil until 2013, it was replaced by the third-generation Transporter (known as the Vanagon in America) in 1979 on the European market. Mass-producing the system would have cost a significant amount of money, too, due largely to the numerous modifications needed to install it.

Even so, Mayer’s prototype was not written off as some strange R&D outgrowth. Engineers developed the Vanagon with four-wheel-drive in mind from the get-go by making space for a driveshaft and a front differential in the underbody. Volkswagen introduced the Vanagon Syncro in 1985, about two years after the four-wheel-drive Passat Syncro arrived, with a permanent four-wheel-drive system designed by Austria-based Steyr-Daimler-Puch. This was the same company that helped create the original Mercedes-Benz G-Class (and still produces it in 2021, along with the BMW Z4/Toyota Supra duo) and alchemized the first Fiat Panda into one of Europe’s most capable off-roaders.

Never intended as a volume-oriented model, the Syncro quickly amassed a loyal following among globe-trotters and commercial users who regularly trudged through tough terrain. Volkswagen even made a heavy-duty suspension system available at an extra cost; around 2138 vans were ordered with this sought-after package.

Syncro was again available on the fourth-generation Transporter (known as the EuroVan in America), but it was replaced by a more advanced system named 4Motion when the fifth-generation model arrived in 2003. Fast forward to 2021, and every van in Volkswagen’s range of commercial vehicles is available with 4Motion. Little do those delivery drivers know that they indirectly owe their vehicle’s bad-weather ruggedness to an off-road ’70s passion project.